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British economy overtakes the French
THE British economy has overtaken France’s despite the uncertainty over Brexit for the last three years.
Even after the sharp fall in the pound following the referendum, the UK just managed to stay ahead of France.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research predicts the UK economy will be a quarter larger than the French one by 2034.
But the group’s annual report contains a cautionary tale for the Conservatives who favour a more restrictive immigration regime as it found countries that are successful in attracting skilled migrants tend to grow faster.
Canada and Australia, which are two of the most successful countries at attracting inward migration, are predicted to rise in the rankings, Canada to eighth and Australia to 13th by 2034.
Overall 2019 has been a bad year for the world economy with the weakest GDP growth since 2009. But the CEBR said the clouds started to lift towards the end of the year.
It comes in the latest edition of the World Economic League Table, the WELT 2020, which showed the US in the top spot yet again.
But it warned that, although it has reached its highest share of GDP in 12 years, the US economy has probably hit its
“high water mark”.
Despite this the US is forecast to remain the world’s largest economy throughout the 2020s, being overtaken by China in 2033.
CEBR deputy chairman Douglas McWilliams said:
“The biggest surprise is how well the US economy has managed to do. Though the deficit and its trade disputes will start to hold it back. “Still, this is a remarkable performance for an old world economy.”
Meanwhile, workers over the age of 65 are likely to be responsible for at least half of employment growth in the UK in the next decade, a study suggests.
The current employment rate for other age groups is expected to remain static, according to predictions by Rest Less, an advice site for older people. The number of people over the age of 65 in work has grown from 455,000 to 1.3 million in 20 years. The employment rate for the group has doubled to 10.9% in that period. Stuart Lewis, of Rest Less, said: “Increasing numbers of over 65s in the workplace unlocks enormous potential for employers but it requires many employers to change their outdated stereotypes of age in the workplace.”