Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Gavin Grey: UK Correspondent on the rise in the unemployment and inactivity rates in the UK

Transcript

Gavin Grey: UK Correspondent on the rise in the unemployment and inactivity rates in the UK · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now I might Kevin, guys will us given morning on.
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  Speaker 1: So the unemployment's good for the Bank of England because
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: they want to squeeze the economy, so then start cutting
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: the interest rate. It's not good if you're trying to
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  Speaker 1: get reelicted. I assume no.
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  Speaker 2: And this set of announcements just release show that unemployment
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  Speaker 2: has climbed to four point four percent in the three
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  Speaker 2: months to April, but that is the highest for two
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  Speaker 2: and a half years. The good news for people in
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  Speaker 2: their wage packets is that wage growth has continued to
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  Speaker 2: remain strong and is outstripping inflation. Regular earnings excluding bonuses
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  Speaker 2: rising at six percent a year, unchanged from the previous month,
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  Speaker 2: but of course once impact of inflation is stripped out,
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  Speaker 2: the pay is increased at an annual rate of two
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  Speaker 2: point nine percent. That is the highest for nearly three years.
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  Speaker 2: So good news. But of all the figures that have
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  Speaker 2: come out, one thing absolutely striking here, Mike. There's been
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  Speaker 2: another increase in the so called inactivity rate that are
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  Speaker 2: the basically the number of people of working age who
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: are not actively looking for work, and that figure stands
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  Speaker 2: at one in five of working age people, the highest
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  Speaker 2: level in nearly a decade. Why was since the pandemic.
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  Speaker 2: There are a lot of long term sick people, it's
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  Speaker 2: being said, other people who want to retire early, and
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  Speaker 2: quite like the fact that during COVID they didn't have
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  Speaker 2: to go into work as it were. Either way, it's
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  Speaker 2: something any government here is going to be very worried
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  Speaker 2: about it.
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  Speaker 1: It's a problem. And I've watched the video of this painting.
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  Speaker 1: Mean that these people turn up gaven with beckpecks and stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Doesn't anyone look and go jeez, that guy looks like trouble.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it quite extraordinary. This took place at a London
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  Speaker 2: art gallery. It is the first official portrait of King
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  Speaker 2: Charles and of course if you've seen it, it was
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  Speaker 2: pretty controversial, lots of vivid red colors and it split
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  Speaker 2: the art critics world. But either way, two people have
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  Speaker 2: walked into the London Art Gallery and attached posters, one
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  Speaker 2: of them over the King's face with a picture of Wallace,
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  Speaker 2: the character from Wallace and Grommet animation, and also a
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  Speaker 2: speech bubble effectively criticized in the RSPCA, the Raal Society
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  Speaker 2: for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which has King
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  Speaker 2: Charles as its patron. The protesters are angry with the
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  Speaker 2: RSPCA because they say that their Farm Assured status, which
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  Speaker 2: is supposed to represent farms that uphold the highest levels
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  Speaker 2: of animal husbandry. They're saying, you know, an undercover investigation
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  Speaker 2: has shown, quite frankly, that the scheme isn't doing what
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  Speaker 2: it's supposed to do and isn't being monitored properly. Well,
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  Speaker 2: I pleased to say that the picture was covered in
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  Speaker 2: glass and the things that they stuck were onto the glass,
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  Speaker 2: so it looks like the painting is all right. But
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  Speaker 2: this is the long line mark in the latest attack
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  Speaker 2: on artwork to raise a particular issue.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's a pleasure. Mike Kevin Gray out of Britain
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  Speaker 1: for US this morning.
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• 2:50
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• 2:51
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• 2:54
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