A construction worker in 2020 produced less than a construction worker in 1970, at least according to the official statistics. Contrast that with the economy overall, where labor productivity rose by 290 percent between 1950 and 2020, or to the manufacturing sector, which saw a stunning ninefold increase in productivity.
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Around seven in 10 people in Haiti back proposed the creation of an international force to help the national police fight violence from armed gangs who have expanded their territory since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, according to a survey carried out in January.
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ChatGPT, the popular chatbot from OpenAI, is estimated to have reached 100 million monthly active users in January, just two months after launch, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history, according to a UBS study on Wednesday.
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UK's Economy
Some hard times may be coming in Great Britain.
In December, as many as 500 patients per week were dying in Britain because of E.R. waits, according to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, a figure rivaling (and perhaps surpassing) the death toll from Covid-19. On average, English ambulances were taking an hour and a half to respond to stroke and heart-attack calls, compared with a target time of 18 minutes; nationwide, 10 times as many patients spent more than four hours waiting in emergency rooms as did in 2011. The waiting list for scheduled treatments recently passed seven million — more than 10 percent of the country — prompting nurses to strike. The National Health Service has been in crisis for years, but over the holidays, as wait times spiked, the crisis moved to the very center of a narrative of national decline.
There's more.
In December, as many as 500 patients per week were dying in Britain because of E.R. waits, according to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, a figure rivaling (and perhaps surpassing) the death toll from Covid-19. On average, English ambulances were taking an hour and a half to respond to stroke and heart-attack calls, compared with a target time of 18 minutes; nationwide, 10 times as many patients spent more than four hours waiting in emergency rooms as did in 2011. The waiting list for scheduled treatments recently passed seven million — more than 10 percent of the country — prompting nurses to strike. The National Health Service has been in crisis for years, but over the holidays, as wait times spiked, the crisis moved to the very center of a narrative of national decline.
There's more.
"GDP is a simple multiplier of two factors: people and their productivity. But we don’t have people we need, nor the productivity,” CBI director general Tony Danker added.
The United Kingdom is the only G7 economy that hasn’t recovered fully from the pandemic. Soaring energy and food costs drove inflation to a 41-year high in October. Widespread strikes have become the norm recently as workers feel the sting of a worsening cost-of-living crisis.
UK workers suffered the most significant drop in their spending power in more than 20 years between April and June as average real wages — which take inflation into account — fell by 3%. The drop in real wages was less severe in the third quarter but was still one of the largest since official records began in 2001.
UK workers suffered the most significant drop in their spending power in more than 20 years between April and June as average real wages — which take inflation into account — fell by 3%. The drop in real wages was less severe in the third quarter but was still one of the largest since official records began in 2001.
By the end of next year, the average British family will be less well off than the average Slovenian one, according to a recent analysis by John Burn-Murdoch at The Financial Times; by the end of this decade, the average British family will have a lower standard of living than the average Polish one.
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