Labour

VW can regain trust with sweeping pay reform

22 Feb 2017

The troubled carmaker plans to overhaul its ill-designed executive pay scheme. This is an opportunity to start rebuilding shareholders’ confidence. Essential changes include turning managers into entrepreneurs, introducing pay clawbacks and giving investors more say on pay.

China bankers: an asset with diminishing returns

9 Feb 2017

Mainland rainmakers are becoming a headache. Global banks still need them to navigate China’s corporate waters. But sudden disappearances of corporate and financial tycoons make high-flying staff a risky commodity. Compliance costs are rising, while their potential is shrinking.

Tokyo is no economic enemy for Trump

6 Feb 2017

Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe is preparing a big package of U.S. investment and job creation to placate the president. Trump's claims of deliberate yen devaluation are wide of the mark. But Tokyo has little choice but to respond, even though it is already an important U.S. ally.

MNCs need sharper edge in China talent wars

17 Jan 2017

Multinationals are losing the battle for top Chinese talent. Local firms poached almost a third of executives who changed jobs in the past five years, while only 10 percent went the other way, a survey finds. Still, MNCs retain one big advantage: a career escape from China.

Britain’s true income gap is between young and old

11 Jan 2017

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn's clumsy plans to rein in executive pay overlook an inconvenient fact: UK income inequality has fallen. Since the crisis retirees have done better than workers, though. Tackling the tensions caused by this divide makes a better political target.

It’s past time for Japan to tackle overwork

6 Jan 2017

A suicide at a top advertising firm shines an ugly spotlight on Japan's dangerously long hours. Relaxing a culture of workaholic conformity won't be easy. But official plans to curb overtime are a good start. And a better work-life balance would bring real economic dividends.

Germany’s thriving job market no solace for Merkel

3 Jan 2017

Unemployment has fallen to its lowest since 1981, and the number of people in jobs is at a record. Chancellor Angela Merkel presided over this happy state but will struggle to leverage it in upcoming elections. Voters are more focused on less predictable flows of migrants.

Trump’s job spin pales beside Obama’s recovery

29 Dec 2016

Some 8,000 new roles at Sprint and OneWeb touted by the U.S. president-elect already were planned, part of a bigger pledge by investor SoftBank. Economic activity is creating 180,000 positions monthly. To keep that going much longer will require more than Trump's double-talk.

American inequality will widen under Trump in 2017

29 Dec 2016

A populist wave sent the real-estate developer to the White House. But his economic policies will help working-class folks the least. His tax cuts, repatriation of corporate cash and infrastructure push will line the pockets of the rich before trickling down to the less well-off.

Making pilots shareholders may save Lufthansa

23 Nov 2016

The carrier's pilots are striking to get a 20-pct pay rise that Lufthansa, dogged by high costs, cannot afford. Paying them in shares might end the gridlock. The airline would save cash, and entrepreneurial spirit in the cockpit could soften the pilots' outlandish demands.

VW finally makes it to third gear

18 Nov 2016

The German carmaker has convinced unions to let it shed 30,000 jobs. That's a second big step, after settling a big emissions cheating case. Next comes the shift to electric and self-driving cars, and beating an overly modest 4 pct operating margin target for its flagship brand.

U.S. labor unions look increasingly white collar

25 Aug 2016

A ruling that lets Ivy League graduate students organize will add to the growing share of cubicle-dwellers in the union movement. Education is one of the few sectors in which membership is increasing, albeit from a low base. The blue-collar stereotype is slowly fading away.

Wal-Mart learns limits of divide and rule in China

11 Jul 2016

The U.S. giant's Chinese employees used social media to co-ordinate nationwide strikes. That will make it harder to cut cosy deals with local governments. Telecom giant China Unicom has also faced cross-country protests. But foreign firms tend to enjoy less official protection.