roaringmouse

And right after that it also says:

"almost 1.5 million people were part-time because they could not find full-time jobs, the highest figure since records began in 1992."

That's a shocking amount of underemployment.

Sally Redux

I suppose it depends what we're comparing it with. Yes, if someone moves to a new country they may not get a job immediately. Surely that's true of many places.

Sally Redux

Agreed.

chris955

In fairness it is in relation to the original post and if using the points made in that post, for the majority it is definitely NO.

SultanOfSwing

I'm comparing it with the fact that I have a job here that pays almost twice what I made at my higest salary in the UK and, let's be honest as an unqualified one-out-of-many who is knocking on the door of 35, more than I'd realistically hope to make if I were to go back tomorrow.

I will posit that this is not a question that can be answered with a yes or no, capitalised or otherwise without an asterisk leading (got that one right ) to a caveat such as 'at least for me'.

The bad points and good points effectively cancel each other out and on average, it probably is 'OK' in general. The UK is no better or worse than anywhere else in that regard, though.

chris955

Exactly, you just have to look at the Australian section of this forum for example, you often see posts by migrants desperate for work while others walk straight into a job. I would imagine the same applies virtually everywhere.

dunroving

I don't know what the GBP-AUD is doing, but as far as GBP-USD, the GBP has become stronger largely due to better economic news.

Though explaining or predicting exchange rates is for dummies. When Mark Carney first stepped in as Governor of the Bank of England, one of the first things he said was that interest rates were unlikely to rise any time soon. This was deemed by the so-called experts to explain why the GBP fell against the USD. More recently when he said a similar thing, this was deemed by the so-called experts to be the reason why the GBP rose against the USD. Go figure.

old.sparkles

For the majority yes, but not everyone and OP's family may live in an area where there is more unrest, and fewer jobs - but you are right, for a lot of people it isn't that bad

dunroving

I thought we had moved on from answering the OP's question as originally framed in Post #1, and since about 30 pages ago we were on to more general discussion about the UK economy, which I would describe as "pretty bad," "not as bad as some places," "not as good as some other places," and "nowhere as bad as it was in the 1980s".

I don't know about anyone else, but the combined effect of inflation plus miniscule pay rises mean I and others in my sector effectively earn about 18%less than 5 years ago. Not great. [Edited to add: But at least I have a job, for which I am grateful]

Generally speaking, I'd say the answer to the question is "It depends on what you mean by THAT bad".

chris955

Of course, I would never say for everyone as even in a paradise you will have those who are doing it tough.

dunroving

I find it mildly interesting that as far as I can see, no-one on the US board seems particularly interested in discussing whether the US economy is bad, despite the fact it is being held ransom by the idiots on capitol Hill, whereas here on MBTTUK, we can't stop ourselves analysing the state of the economy ad nauseum.

old.sparkles

Haven't seen the news for a while - did they get anything sorted today?

roaringmouse

This BBC article published a minute or two ago.

Sally Redux

It's now government as mini-series.

Sally Redux

Whether somewhere is the right move for you personally is a different question.