Mark Gilman

The UK's first national minimum wage (NMW) was introduced in April 1999 against the backdrop of immense uncertainty over what its effects might be (UK9904196F [1]). The Labour government aimed to introduce the NMW in such a way that it would bring substantial benefits to low paid workers without

1999 saw GDP growth decrease to 1.2%, from 2.2% in 1998 and 3.5% in 1997. However, inflation slowed, to 1.3% compared with 3.2% in 1998 and 2.8% in 1997. The unemployment rate decreased slightly from 6.4% (1,804,000 people) in 1998 to 6.3% (1,778,000) in 1999, continuing the decline which has been

Dissatisfaction on the part of junior doctors in the UK over out-of-hours pay and excessive workload has been fuelled by the outcome of the meeting of the EU's Council of Labour and Social Affairs Ministers on 25 May 1999 concerning proposals for extending the 1993 EU Directive on certain aspects of

In the third quarter of 1998, the UK's GDP was 2.5% higher than a year earlier. Balance of trade in goods was in deficit by GBP 3.9 billion, compared with GBP 2.6 billion a year earlier. In December 1998, the all-items retail prices index (RPI) inflation rate stood at 2.8%, down from 3.0% in

The Institute of Personnel and Development (IPD) has a membership of over 90,000 personnel and human resource managers and its annual conference, attracting some 2,000 delegates and many more visitors, is regarded as one of the foremost occasions on the UK's human resources calendar, attended by

Delegates at a joint conference, organised by theTrades Union Congress (TUC), Alcohol Concern and the Institute for the Study of Drug Dependency (ISDD) on 12 October 1998, heard that alcohol and drug misuse is estimated to cost employers nearly GBP 3 billion per year - GBP 2 billion for alcohol

From 1 October 1998, the UK is covered, for the first time, by a set of general statutory rules for the regulation of working time - the Working Time Regulations 1998 [1] (UK9810154F [2]). The Regulations represent mainly the UK's implementation of the 1993 EU Directive on certain aspects of the

A survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), published in September 1998, indicates that sickness and other forms of absence cost British firms an estimated GBP 11 billion in total in 1997. Some 197 million days of work were lost, and the cost worked out at GBP 478 per employee for the