UK unemployment rising at twice European average – no wonder there is an exodus of talented individuals!

Times Online – Nov 2008 – Crunch leads to UK jobs exodus

Management-Issues.com – July 2008 – Exodus threatens talent crunch as UK executives seek greener pastures 

BBC – Feb 2009 – UK jobless total at 1.97 million …. [unemployment] now increasing twice as fast as the average across Europe

Recrion.co.uk – Executive talent leaves UK to escape downturn

These are just a few of the headlines that have come out recently – not very reassuring – and it seems apparent that there is little agreement on how long the downturn will last, which combined with daily stories of redundancies and bankruptcies is making everyone nervous.

The BBC article listed at the bottom of this note quotes Tony Dolphin, senior economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research as saying, “Unfortunately it seems inevitable that unemployment will exceed three million during 2009”. The article goes on to highlight a TUC study said that while unemployment in the UK was lower than the European average, it was now increasing twice as fast as the average across Europe.

While the emerging markets also appear to be affected by the downturn and stories such as a project manager in Dubai who is driving round with “looking for work” and a phone number spray painted on the back of his Porsche are appearing, these markets are still in need of talented individuals. A growing number of UK-based professionals are now looking overseas for work.

What’s more, with the government talking about increasing the higher band income tax rate to 45% in 2011 as well, this exodus is a trend that is likely to continue.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7882745.stm

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Ramping up my interview pitches for the BBC in Davos

After two planes, three trains and two automobiles I arrived in Davos last night.  I have already hit the ground running today and started ramping up my interview pitches for the BBC – there will be some interesting guests – so you should keep your eye on BBC World/BBC domestic news over the next week to ten days.

It is great to be here again – while it is hard work and long hours, I am looking out of the window right now and it is absolutely stunningly picturesque.

Every year I come, I continue to be amazed by the precision with which the WEF’s annual meeting is planned and executed.  When you have such a long list of the world’s political, cultural and religious leaders in one place you can’t afford to drop the ball – that said it still amazes me – such a well-oiled machine!

I will try to post a couple of updates as the week progresses

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BBC criticised over Mumbai Twitter coverage

I just read an entry in the Guardian’s PDA Digital Content Blog about the BBC’s use of Twitter, specifically highlighting the criticism the broadcaster has come under for using unsubstantiated citizen reports in its coverage of the Mumbai terror attacks.

Apparently a specific tweet is at the centre of discussion – the comment stated that the Indian government called for an end to Twitter updates from Mumbai which was covered in their “live updates” page.

BBC News website editor Steve Herrmann said, “Should we have checked this before reporting it? Made it clearer that we hadn’t? We certainly would have done if we’d wanted to include it in our news stories (we didn’t)….But should we have tried to check it and then reported back later, if only to say that we hadn’t found any confirmation? I think in this case we should have, and we’ve learned a lesson.”

Looking at the comments from people responding to the blog entry on the Guardian’s website, the general feeling is that people are finding it difficult to see the difference between interviewing someone on the street or by phone as an ‘eyewitness’ and relaying the comments and sentiment on Twitter.  I tend to agree with this – although in the same way that people have become much more selective about who they include in their social networks, people need to check out who they are following on Twitter before accepting them as a trusted source, and if the post comes in as a tagged post (#tagname) or a targeted response (@twitterer) then more care should be taken before referencing the post.

To put all of this in context, the BBC says, “As for the Twitter messages we were monitoring, most did not add a great amount of detail to what we knew of events, but among other things they did give a strong sense of what people connected in some way with the story were thinking and seeing.”

I think this is an important point – what the BBC did using Twitter was a great way of delivering a sense of feeling and connectedness, and provided it is taken in the context in which it is meant, it can add real value to news delivery.

The Independent’s Tom Sutcliffe said news providers should be a bit more careful about blurring the boundary between twittering and serious reporting.

He writes, “Twitterers are hair-trigger communicators, and presumably absolutely itching to get something of substance into their despatches. Whereas a journalist has a reasonably strong incentive not to broadcast misleading or dubious information, because such an eventuality would come with a professional cost, a Twitterer owes no duty except to their own impressions and their own state of mind. They’ll pass on rumour as readily as fact, and there’s absolutely no way of telling which is which.”

I disagree with Sutcliffe – with Twitter, in general, people only follow what they choose to follow, so if a source becomes known as posting inaccurate information, people will just stop following.  Perhaps more importantly people are using Twitter to communicate with their professional peer network – they have a vested interest in only posting things they are comfortable will not damage them or their professional reputation among peers.

Follow my Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/jameshawksworth

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