PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

After what many would call the most surreal four years in American politics, some sense of normality was restored to the United States last week when Joe Biden was elected as the 46th President on the steps of the Capitol Building in Washington where only two weeks earlier, supporters of Donald Trump had begun their protests against the results of the presidential election. In what is still clearly a divided country politically, the new president will have a mountain to claim to bring people with deeply contrasting opinions to even listen to each other, never mind creating a consensus which many can live with. However, that challenge – which was at the core of the inauguration address - will have to take second place to the immediate economic challenges faced by Mr Biden, challenges that will have an impact not only on his own nation but also the rest of the global economy. Clearly, his first priority will addressing the Covid-19 pandemic and the damage it has caused to the American ec...

As students of global economics will attest, the old saying “when America sneezes, the world catches a cold” is as true now as it ever was. However, the same is true of positive developments that happen in the USA with new trends that impact on the economy and society usually crossing the Atlantic Ocean a few years later. That is why a recent report on those who are working for themselves is an important study that could have significant implications for the development of the labour force here in the UK. “Freelancing in America:2018” is the most comprehensive study undertaken on the independent workforce in the USA and shows that, incredibly, more than one in three Americans are involved in freelance work. And this trend is growing with the freelance workforce growing to nearly 57 million over the last five years, a growth 0f 7 per cent as compared to only 2 per cent for the non-freelance workforce. In addition, the proportion of those who are doing well out of being freelan...

Back in 2011, Chancellor George Osborne stated that he wanted to rebalance the economy through greater support for manufacturing through the so-called “march of the makers” – and, to some extent, there has been a significant recovery in the sector since the 2008 economic recession. According to leading analysts the Boston Consultancy Group, improved cost competitiveness compared with its European neighbours, flexible labour markets and lower taxes have fuelled a growth in the UK manufacturing industry since 2010, especially in the automotive sector where output in February was 13.1% up on the same period in 2015. In Wales, manufacturing grew by 17% between 2010-14, adding a further £1.3bn to the economy, a higher rate of growth than the Welsh economy as a whole. But it is not only here in the UK that manufacturing is again becoming important. After years of decline, it would seem that it is slowly coming back on to the economic agenda of policymakers in developed nations glo...

According to recent research from the USA , a record number of women in the American workforce are the sole or primary breadwinners for their families. In a finding that shows the massive change in working practices over the last fifty years, mothers now bring the majority of funding into 40 per cent of households, up from 11 per cent in 1960. And whilst most of these families tend to be headed by single mothers, the number of married mothers who are bringing in more income than their husbands is also increasing. Indeed, in nearly a quarter of American marriages, the woman is the major breadwinner. So what are attitudes of America to this finding? Not surprisingly, they are mixed. Whilst 67 per cent stated that the extra income from working mothers made it easier for families to earn enough to live comfortably, 74 per cent said that it had also made it harder for parents to raise children. Another contradictory finding is that whilst the vast majority have reject...

In an earlier blog post, I discussed the development of a new economic approach by the governors of the individual states that make up the USA . Having had the opportunity this week to fully digest the “Growing State Economies” report which sets out the priorities for such a strategy, it was heartening to note that the message was clear to those involved in economic development at a state level that they should stop competing against each other to attract investment from larger companies and move towards a more bottom-up approach to start and develop their own local businesses. This is not going to be easy. Data shows that individual states are, on average, still looking to spend twenty seven per cent more next year on strategic business attraction. And this is despite statistics that demonstrate that only two per cent of annual job gains across the individual states can be attributed to business relocations. Fortunately, for those keen to promote entrepreneurship at a local le...

Last week, a major economic study was released in the USA that received very little publicity on this side of the Atlantic. And it came from a very unexpected source, namely the group that represents the governors of all fifty American States, namely the National Governors Association (NGA). With national governments focusing largely on issues regarding the global economy and how to emerge from the financial mess that has engulfed much of the Western world over the last five years, administrations at a state, regional and local level are looking to take greater responsibility for economic development, especially in encouraging their local indigenous business base to grow. The study, entitled “Growing State Economies”, provides ideas and options to help states to develop those policies that can encourage entrepreneurship and innovation. Drawing on evidence from academics, research foundations and, most importantly, the business community, it develops a framework to help the priv...