Q2 was a mixed picture for the UK economy. Quarterly GDP fell for the first time since whilst Economic Inactivity fell to record lows and Wage Inflation was the highest since the 2008 recession.
Trophy Winners #1 – England Men’s Club Football 1889 to 2019
The 2019/20 football season is now underway in England and my team Newcastle Utd play their first match tomorrow. As a long suffering toon fan, it has been 50 years since we last won a trophy and I am not expecting that drought to end this season. For supporters of other teams, your life will have been more fortunate but if you can’t remember the last time your team won a trophy then why not download my spreadsheet listing all trophy winners since 1889 to find out.
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Pay Gaps #11 – A median sized problem with 10 solutions from the RSS
The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) and I have published two articles to help employers better calculate and interpret their gender pay gaps. The first article lists 10 recommendations to improve the quality of gender pay gap reporting, the second is an article in Significance magazine which explores in more detail, two of the recommendations concerning medians and quartiles.
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UK Weather Tracker #30 – July 2019
The UK set a new record for maximum temperature of 38.7 degrees in Cambridge on 29th July. Other than that, the UK weather was unremarkable for the month overall, other than being warmer than normal. This goes to show that whilst individual days can be remarkable, it is rare that this is sustained.
Pay Gaps #10 – Should the UK introduce Ethnicity Pay Gap Reporting?
After two years of mandatory gender pay gap reporting, there is increasing pressure to bring in pay gap reporting for other protected characteristics. At the moment, ethnicity is receiving the greatest attention and a number of politicians are calling for the introduction of mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting.
In this post, I will explain why I am opposed to an ethnicity pay gap reporting process which simply replicates the gender pay gap reporting process. In a future post, I will explore what an ethnicity pay gap reporting process should look like if parliament decides it wants to make this law.
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Ethnicity #1 – Is all white alright?
You have just started work for a new employer and with you joining, the company now has 25 employees. All are white including you. Would you raise your eyebrows at that?
Stats in the News #3 – Did I change Bath’s Clean Air Zone plans?
The city of Bath is among a number of cities in the UK tasked with reducing Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emissions. NOx pollution is thought to contribute to poor health and the government has required clean air plans from the relevant local authorities to be in place before 2021. I had no idea that this would result in my statistical expertise being needed to answer a political row over the BathBreathes2021 plans to charge cars driving into Bath and you can read my report to see what my answer was!
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Pay Gaps #9 – How to close your gender pay gap with DMAIC
So you’ve measured your gender pay gap (correctly I hope!) but you don’t know what to do next?
You are not alone, many employers are still getting their heads around how to interpret their pay gaps and are struggling to work out what it means for them. One outcome is that many consultants are out there waiting to advise you and among them are statisticians like me. But what exactly is it that statisticians bring to the party compared to other consultants? One answer is that statisticians use DMAIC to help organisations improve the quality of their products, services and processes.
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UK Weather Tracker #29 – June 2019
The Met Office began the month with forecasts of a really cold June and ended the month talking about heatwaves. This meant June ended up being unremarkable on average.
Pay Gaps #8 – My Evidence to the Treasury Select Committee
On June 5th 2019, I had the privilege of being able to talk to the Treasury Select Committee about the “Effectiveness of Gender Pay Gap Reporting“. My name was put forward by the Royal Statistical Society and we spent an hour discussing a number of issues with a particular focus on the Finance sector.
[Read more…] about Pay Gaps #8 – My Evidence to the Treasury Select Committee
