Welsh Secretary to host first Jobs Summit for Wales in Newport

“Depends how you measure productivity.
My company in Swansea in the 1970s had to supply 135 units a week to break even, would that be zero productivity & doubling that would be infinite productivity!
What companies or shops etc want is customers & little is being done to find these, halving basic rate income tax would be a far better use of available money. This would lower cost per unit, as above, leading to more sales, more employment, more pension contributions, more N.I. contributions, more income/company tax returns & more exports, cutting VAT would also help but I don't know whether the EU would allow this.
Companies & banks are awash with money but not customers.”

“Zoomer - giving money to companies to invest in machinery, buildings etc has been done before. Once the money stopped flowing, the businesses ran off to the next country that was offering them incentives.

How many £millions did the various Japanese companies receive and where are they now ?”

“I don't think bleating on about party politics is very helpful. Neither the Labour or the Conservative parties have done anything constructive to halt the decline in productivity in Britain. As you say, Neathboy234, we are not competitive anymore and it's going to be a long long time before the trend goes full circle.”

“Zoomer it is often missed that since the Tories came to power, the number of unemployed has actually fallen at a time when GDP has flat lined at best. This has led to a fall in productivity, when people look back in years to come i fear that Cameron's legacy will be one of declining productivity. Something we could do without as we attempt to take on the rest of the world”

“Rather than give Companies large sums of money to take on an extra employee, who may or may not be kept on after a certain period of time. Companies should be incentivised to invest in new machinery and new production techniques together with potential export increases.
Many years ago, the Government used to promote Regional Aid Grants for manufacturing companies expanding their businesses and horizons. I don't know what's on offer now, but I don't hear much about it. Perhaps that's one of the problems.
I have also noticed in the Press, that some manufacturing companies in China are losing out due to their wages and costs rising, right now. I have also read that many UK clothing manufacturers and clothing designers are gaining ground on the Chinese, due to the UK suppliers being able to make-up clothing with quick "turnaround" times, compared to the longer delivery times of the Chinese containers. The Chinese can still supply very cheap clothes, but they require very large orders to do this. Many UK retailers are now almost looking for a new design today, make it by tomorrow, and sell it in the shop or online by next week !”

“There was a very good panorama program on just last night, it's seems that private firms are being paid up to £9,0000 to find work for people, and with very little success. All this talk of scroungers from the Tory party must be very hard to take from the unemployed. Fact is in the western world we have almost 50 million unemployed, people who in the past would have had jobs which have since moved to china. It may take up to 30 years before wages in China and the like rise to our level, until then we are just going to have to live with high unemployment. It's just a shame those in power can't be honest with the people and tell them the hard facts. We can't have cheap TV's and computers from China and full employment, it's one or the other.”

“What about the older people who can't find jobs? We need less talk and more action - not just from employers but from the Welsh Government. The benefits system is in crisis and nobody seems to care. Jobs can't be made where there are no vacancies. It's pointless to try and get companies to employ more people if it's going to make them unprofitable. Part time jobs are a waste of time because you lose your benefits.”