During the 1980s and early 1990s recessions, British manufacturing Essay

During the 1980s and early 1990s recessions, British manufacturing management restored profitability, sacked employees, and tra - Essay Example Britain, United States, and China are the most competing nations that have experienced economic recessions since the 1980s. The cause of the 1980 recession in Britain is believed to have been due to the government monetarist policies to reduce inflation; this led to an increase in unemployment rate from 5.3% to 124% of the working population in 1979 to11.9% in 1984. It took 18 quarters for the GDP to recover to the start of the recession. The early 1990s recession is attributed to the US savings and loan crisis, which led to a decrease of company earnings from 25%and 55% increase in unemployment rate from 6.9% of the working population in 1990 to 10.7% in 1993, which took 13 quarters for the GDP to recover to that at the start of the economic recession. The unemployment rate between the 1980s and 1990s shot up to a level not seen since the great depression this in turn affected Britain’s economy badly to the point that even after the recession, many Britons were still unemploy ed. This led to the stagnation of the industrial sector leading to increase in losses and low profit making affecting Britain’s economy. ... Very few people came to live in Britain during the reign of Thatcher. Acceptances for settlement went down from 69,670 in 1979 up to 53,200 people in 1990 the time Thatcher resigned as the prime minister. During this time of economic recession, there were many people leaving Britain than coming to Britain. This trend led to a decrease in the population of Britain. During the economic recession, there was an increase in divorce rate with many babies being born outside marriage. The rate of people getting married also decreased. In the 1980s, many businesses faced the challenge of restoring the spirit of competitiveness with the problems they experienced in the 1970s where British industrial sector was struggling with industrial relations, poor productivity, and low profitability (Haslam, Neale & Sukhdev, 2000). Under the reign of Thatcher, manufacturing decreased. During the 1970s, manufacturing accounted for 20.57% of the UK GDP. This dropped to 17.62% of GDP in 1979 and again droppe d to 15.18 % with the exit of Thatcher. There was a pay gap during her reign with men receiving more pay than women. On house rent, there was an increase of house rent across Britain especially with the privatization of counsel houses. This led to distress across Britain with many people being unemployed, retrenched, and underpaid. With low income, it forced some of the people to move out of Britain and reduced the number of those people who were coming to Britain. Interest rates also sky rocketed to 17% these affected investments in Britain discouraging investors from expanding their investments. Property repossession also increased. For instance, in 1991, 75,500 properties were repossessed and over 186,649 cases reached the court.