Outlook and appraisal [June 2009]

The recession in the UK economy may be over. The National Institute for Economic and Social Research in London called the end of the recession as occurring in March and is estimating small positive growth in April and May of this year. Due to lack of data the position in Scotland is much less clear. There is a clear danger of a “false dawn”, since it is not unknown for previous UK recessions to have one or two positive quarters of growth before growth turned negative again

Foreword from the Principal [June 2009]

As Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde I am very pleased to introduce this special issue of the Fraser Commentary which, in addition to the regular forecast and review of the Scottish economy, is focussed on the role of higher education and training in Scotland

China Employment Law Update - June 2009

[Excerpt] This publication has been prepared for clients and professional associates of Baker of McKenzie.It is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. For this reason, the information contained herein should not be relied upon as legal advice or regarded as a substitute for detailed advice in individual cases.The services of a competent professional adviser should be obtained in each instance so that applicability of the relevant jurisdictions or other legal developments to the particular facts can be verified

A multi-disciplinary perspective on the built environment: Space Syntax and cartography – the communication challenge

8-11 June 2009

Job Growth During the Recovery

[Excerpt] Congress in recent years passed a number of bills intended in part to jump-start a recovery in the labor market from the recession that began in December 2007. Members of the 112th Congress are interested in the labor market’s response to these measures to help them decide how well the legislation has worked and whether additional job-creation legislation may be warranted in light of the pace and composition of job growth since the recession’s end in June 2009. Accordingly, employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is analyzed in this report from December 2007 to June 2009 (the recession), from June 2009 to April 2012 (the recovery through the latest month for which data were available at the time of the report’s preparation), and from December 2007 to April 2012

Forecasts of the Scottish economy [June 2009]

As acknowledged by Scotland’s Chief Economic Advisor in his State of the Economy presentation of May 2009, Scotland has been affected by developments in the world economy. It is likely therefore that Scotland’s future growth prospects will be significantly affected by the duration of the global downturn, and the speed by which, in some cases unconventional, policy decisions taken over the last six to nine months restore the world economies to a growth trajectory

Review of Scottish business surveys [June 2009]

The extent to which the recession is slowing down, or bottoming has been a popular theme in recent surveys, although, especially for the service sector, the timing of the Easter weekend (in the first quarter of 2008, but in the second quarter of 2009) and significant differences in the weather, should prompt caution as to drawing any firm conclusions between the first and second quarters, evidence of any significant changes in business trends and more generally in the current trends in the Scottish economy

Overview of the labour market [June 2009]

Current interest in the Scottish labour market continues to focus on the trends and patterns in the unemployment figures, in this issue, in addition to noting recent changes in Scottish labour market trends, we explore a number of the underlying issues in employment, unemployment and activity rates. It is important to remember, as the ONS indicates, that we are exploring and seeking to measure changes generated by sample surveys and the results should be seen in terms of the relevant confidence levels