[nito]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Do you realize the loop in your reasoning?

If people are artificially declared as incapacitated, obviously they will not appear in the unemployment figures, and that will respect the ILO definition of unemployment.

What's specific about the UK is the Conservative and Labour administrations have put MANY (between 1 and 2 million) people in the incapacitated category. Those same people in Germany or France would NOT be considered incapacitated.

You are going to have to clarify with a detailed breakdown who these 1-2mn people are, the conditions they suffer from and whether people suffering identical conditions are classified as unemployed in France and Germany before I can comment further. I would find it a bit harsh that the French state would force people into unemployment if they are suffering from a disability or other condition.

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

France has a higher employment rate than the UK in the 25-54 age bracket. More young people in France pursue higher education than in the UK, so the employment rate of the under 25 is meaningless. And people in France retire early, with lots of people going on pre-retirement after 54, so again not comparable to the UK. It's the 25-54 age bracket that matters.

You can’t use the argument that consecutive British parliaments’ have pushed people into incapacity to lower unemployment levels, and then narrow the age brackets because the French state encourages more people to end up in higher education or forces people to retire earlier.

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

As for the total active population, what's surprising? The UK has a very lax immigration policy, with a net migration of +200,000 every year, when France has strict immigration policies and a net migration of only +50,000 per year. It's thus not surprising that the UK has more active people (France has more toddlers and children than the UK, whereas the UK has more people from 25 to 50 than France, due to high net migration). What's surprising is that with a larger active population, the UK doesn't manage to have a larger economy than France.

The UK doesn’t have a lax immigration policy; the difference is the allure of EU migrants and the opportunities the country offers.

And as stated in my previous posts, the UK economy is still recovering, but based on recent data, and previously mentioned points, the higher active population is one factor as to why the UK economy is booming and why it will surpass the economy of France.

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Yeah, yeah. I heard that in 2007 already. We know what happened next.

I don’t get what you mean but this; that somehow the UK is going to re-enter into a financial crisis, and/or that somehow there is no possibility for the UK economy surpassing that of France? Where is the evidence?

The reality is that the UK economy has been growing strongly now for a realisable period of time now and is likely to continue doing so into 2015 and beyond due to the prevailing conditions and confidence. Not only that but subsequent revisions recently unveiled showed that the UK economy experienced a far softer recession (6.0% compared to 7.2%) than was previously thought, and that the UK economy surpassed its financial crisis peak last year (three quarters earlier than previously assumed).

The French economy simply doesn’t have such a rosy economic outlook, what with the economy flat-lining, a stumbling deficit reduction strategy, and the poor sector indicators & confidence levels

Contrast the latest revised quarterly economic growth for the UK (0.9%) with the potential 1.0% annual growth for the French economy in all of 2015. It’s worlds apart, and if anything the convergence point is drawing nearer.