Category Archives: personal loan
British think tank warns household incomes to drop to 2005 levels
London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – British households have lost about $750 (GBP 500) in the past 12 months, according to a study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies released on Friday. It is considered the largest drop in household income since 1981, and is equal to what households made in 2004.
The think tank said that average take-home income actually went up despite the recent recession because of low inflation and higher social benefits, but the long-term effects of the recession and the threat of a higher consumer price index negated the income hike.
The institute blamed the decline on rising inflation and lower wage increases.
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King earlier warned that British households may suffer from a substantial reduction in their spending power and advised families to anticipate a two-digit increase in energy bills, which would push the inflation rate to 5 percent by the end of 2011.
The study was based on data from 2009-10 when Britain was still under a Labour-led government. At that time, average income was still going up faster than inflation, but the think tank said the trend appears to have reversed beginning last year. During this period, earnings dropped by 3.8 percent in real terms for the first 11 months.
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Paying To Much for Loans? Here’s How to get and Unsecured Loan
Do you know about the lending club?
The Lending Club is an online financial community that brings together borrowers and lenders. Their mission is to create al alternative to banks that offers borrowers a great rate introducing borrowers to lenders via the internet.
Peer-to-peer lending is not new, but the Lending club is one of the main innovators in this area. Borrowers hurt by the credit squeeze can turn to peer lending to find financing from investors looking to lend.
You can use the lending club to pay off credit card debt, look for an alternative to banks for business funds, find a lender for a micro loan, etc.
How to start:
The application process is easy,
A) Apply for a Loan Online in minutes
B) Get funds in a few days
C) Make Fixed monthly payments
They are commited to be more competitive than a regular bank by reducing the cost and complexity of bank lending
The online process is fast and easy, you can apply in minutes and get an instant rate quote
Members are using these loans for:
Loan Consolidation
Paying off Credit Cards
Car or Vehicle loans
Unsecured Loan
Home Improvement
Business Loans
Special Events
Green Loans, green home renovations, installing solar panels, etc.
Other Personal Loans, wedding, extra expenses, elective surgery, vacation, and much more,
You can borrow up to $35,000 at a lower rate than the bank typically offers.
Start today for a Personal Loan or a Low Interest Loan
*information based on Lending Club website on 4/13/2010
NDP pushes for reform in Canadian pension plan
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (AHN) – New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton has promised to push for reforms in the Canadian pension plan. He vowed before provincial premiers who attended the Canadian Labor Congress Wednesday that as opposition leader he will move to strengthen pensions.
To do that, he said he will seek alliances with the provincial heads, regardless of their party affiliations. By seeking the premiers’ support, Layton hopes to pressure the Tory-led majority government to initiate real action to improve the country’s pension plan.
Pension reform was on Layton’s campaign agenda, whose party surprisingly got the second highest vote in the May 2 election. The party had previously asked the Conservative government to double benefits under the Canada Pension Plan, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in the last Parliament, said all levels of government are still discussing a modest enhancement. The PM promised to discuss the matter at the next finance ministers’ meeting, likely by December.
Layton said the apparent lack of cooperation from the Tories led the NDP to vote against the budget proposed by Harper in March, which led to the Liberal Party-initiated no-confidence motion and spring election.
When Parliament resumes, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is expected to present the same budget the party prepared in March, which would mean no major hikes in pension benefits.
Layton said that Harper could not afford to sideline the NDP even if the Tories secured a majority for the first time in three Conservative-led governments. Layton stressed that with NDP’s 102 seats in the House of Commons, the party is the largest and most united official opposition in the Canadian’s Parliament since the Conservatives held 103 seats after the 1980 election.
The Liberals held the same number of MP seats after the 2006 election, but immediately lost one MP to the Conservatives when MP David Emerson defected before Harper was sworn in as prime minister.
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Approved daily minimum wage hike of $0.51 upsets Filipino workers, legislators
Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines (AHN) – Various Philippine groups criticized the measly $0.51 (PHP 22) daily minimum wage increase for Metro Manila workers approved by the wage board of the Department of Labor and Employment’s National Capital Region on Monday.
The hike was actually incorporated into the cost of living allowance of minimum wage earners, which slightly increased their daily compensation to $9.94 (PHP 426). However, the hike was paltry compared to the $1.75 (PHP 75) increase sought by trade unions.
Among the critics of the salary increase was Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, who said over a radio interview that the non-stop rise in gasoline, food and other basic commodity prices will eat up the small wage hike granted NCR workers.
Trade union officials said the hike was short of the promise of good news for Metro Manila minimum wage earners President Benigno Aquino III made before Labor Day. They hit the Aquino administration for being fast in approving hikes in transport fares, but too slow in alleviating the tight economic spot many Filipinos grapple with.
The wage increase, which will take effect by the end of May, was also hit by legislators who described the increase a “too little, too late.”
Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello said the COLA adjustment is mere loose change compared to the escalating prices of goods and services.
Because of the widespread disenchantment by workers over the measly wage hike – which was defended by employers’ group as the only amount they could yield to without resulting in businesses closing – Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casino pushed for approval of a bill that proposes a $2.91 (PHP 125) across-the-board legislated daily salary increase for all Filipino workers.
Casino pointed to the 10.19 percent fuel price inflation, 7.28 percent transport fare increase and 4.03 percent food price hike as the justifications for the proposed across-the-board pay adjustment.
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Report: British public workers get higher pay hikes than private sector employees
London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – The pay gap between public and private sector employees in Britain widened further from 2008 to 2010, according to a study by British think tank Policy Exchange released over the weekend.
According to the report, a government sports and leisure assistant got an average pay hike of 13.5 percent during the three-year period, while a worker in a private company with a similar job go only an average pay hike of 12.2 percent.
Worse off were private school teachers who even got a 12 percent pay cut, while their public school counterparts received a salary adjustment of 2.1 percent.
Reckoned on an hourly basis, the hourly rate of a mid-income public employee was $20.31 (GBP 13.54), while that of a private sector worker was about $15.09 (GBP 10.06).
However, certain private sector high earners such as bankers, football players and television stars have salaries that were much higher than their public counterparts.
Union officials however are downplaying the Policy Exchange study citing the return of the culture of large city bonuses, while council staff are going through job reductions.
Private company workers, though are expected to catch up because state workers’ pay is frozen until 2008 as Britain reduces its budget deficit and debt. Chancellor George Osborne has sought at least a two-year nationwide wage freeze for public workers and to reform pension systems for state workers.
The only exception to the rule of the larger pay hike was in Yorkshire. The pay disparity was particularly felt in Wales and the northwest.
According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 20.4 percent of U.K.’s population are employed in the public sector. The number had actually gone down from 21.1 percent and is expected to be further reduced because of the coalition government’s austerity measures.
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Slighly higher unemployment rate despite more jobs in April
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The unemployment rate grew 9 percent in April despite the economy adding more jobs than was expected.
The Labor Department said on Friday nonfarm payroll increased 244,000 during the period, boosted by gains in the service, manufacturing and mining industries. In the private sector, 268,000 jobs were added while the federal and state governments lost 24,000 jobs.
There was an increase of 51,000 positions during the month in the professional and businesses services, specifically in technical consulting and coputers systems design.
Jobs related to healthcare rose 37,000, largely due to a 22,000 increase in employment in ambultory healthcare. Hospitals accounted for 10,000 jobs.
In the hospitatility industry, there was continued growth with 46,000 more jobs, mainly from a 30,600 spike in employment in accomodation and food services.
Manufacturing added 29,000 jobs to the economy and mining 11.4 percent.
Despite the gains, the unemployment trate rose to 9 percent in April from 8.8 percent in the previous month.
The number of jobless Americans remained little changed at 13.7 million. Those unemployed for less than five weeks rose by 242,000, but the number of jobless for at least 27 weeks dropped by 283,000 to 5.8 million.
There was virtually the same number of people involutarily working part-time, at 8.6 million.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) used the jobs report to assail the White House for “causing renewed uncertainty for private-sector job creators, crowding out private investment and punishing small businesses and entrepreneurs who are willing to invest.”
“While any improvement is welcome news, job growth in America is still nowhere close to what it should be,” the Republican leader added.
“Over the past month, rather than joining Republicans in focusing on policies that promote long-term economic growth to help balance the federal budget, the Democrats who control Washington have indicated they are planning to increase taxes and allow the government’s spending binge to continue.”
But the White House pointed out that there was an averge of about a quarter of a million private sector jobs created each month for three consecutive months.
“We’re pleased about that. We obviously have a lot more work to do,” presidential spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. “The recession cost the American labor force 8 million jobs and we’re still digging ourselves out of that hole.”
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Saskatchewan teachers strike
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada (AHN) – All of Saskatchewan’s teachers struck on Thursday to demand a contract. The educators have been working without a contract since August 31.
The job walk off of members of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation made the province’s history because it is the first time they initiated an industrial action.
In lieu of teaching, the teachers held study sessions and a rally in front of Saskatchewan’s legislature in Regina.
Saskatchewan Education Minister Donna Harpauer said she was disappointed with the union’s move, but admitted it is their right to strike as part of the bargaining process. The minister said she would rather prefer to see the students learning inside the classrooms, than the teachers holding pickets.
The one-day strike, announced Tuesday, affected the Regina Public, Regina Catholic, Prairie Valley and Prairie South school divisions. Classes across the province are expected to resume Friday.
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Philippine employers reject proposed $1.75 daily wage hike for Metro Manila workers, offer $0.30 instead
Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines (AHN) – The Employers Confederation of the Philippines rejected the $1.75 (PHP 75) daily wage increase sought by Metro Manila workers, but instead offered a paltry $0.30 (PHP 13.35) hike.
ECOP President Edgardo Lacson said Wednesday at the 32nd National Conference of Employers that the country’s businesses could not afford the $1.75 asked by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines.
Lacson warned that if the government gives in to workers’ demand to that level of wage adjustment, there could be massive layoffs and business closures.
He said aside from the wage hike, Philippine employers must also contend with the impact of political instability in North Africa and the Middle East, which had resulted in higher oil prices, plus the credit defaults in Europe, which also affected local business. They also have to cope with rising water and electric rates.
Lacson added that even before a wage hike order is issued by the National Wage Board. 400 Japanese companies operating in the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quewzon have started to lay off workers. The firms are exporters of car parts and electronic components sources from Japan and are affected by the parts shortage caused by the March 11 earthquake that hit Japan.
Aside from offering $0.30 daily wage increase, Lacson said employers are willing to give short-term forms of relief to workers through allowances and other non-wage benefits. Lacson said the $0.30 offer was the erosion rate of the peso’s purchasing power in the national capital region.
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NBA players unhappy with latest proposal from owners
New York, NY, United States (AHN Sports) – NBA players don’t see much difference in a new proposal from the league’s owners and they are not happy about it.
The latest formal collective bargaining proposal the owners have handed the players is a 10-year deal that is just barely different from the original one the owners made.
The league delivered its offer to the union last week.
The owners, who are seeking significant rollbacks in existing contracts, a hard salary cap and a larger share of basketball related income. Players are guaranteed 57 percent of the revenue under terms of the existing labor agreement, which expires June 30.
“Unfortunately, the proposal is very similar to the proposal the league submitted over a year ago,” union president Derek Fisher told ESPN.com. “This last proposal doesn’t look close to what we were expecting.”
Union director Billy Hunter previously has said the players are willing to give up their 57 percent guarantee, but he wants to keep most other elements of the existing deal.
Owners wanted nearly $800 million in salary reduction for the 2011-12 season in their original proposal. Players were paid a total of approximately $2.1 billion this season, and commissioner David Stern said last month that the league is projecting a $300 million loss for the current season, a figure the players dispute.
The NBA has not had a work stoppage since 1998.
“With the recent news that Round 1 ratings are at an all-time high, the popularity of the game globally has never been higher, we have to work to keep this going in the right direction,” Fisher said. “I will continue to urge our players to be prepared in the event of a lockout, but will remain steadfast in my efforts to drive this process forward.”
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