IMF urges to cut benefits to attract more men to work

Mr Stride has unveiled plans to force people who quit their jobs with mild mental health problems to look for work. Photo: Christopher Pledger for the Telegraph

Last month, Stride unveiled plans to force 150,000 furloughed people with mild mental illnesses to look for work, warning that the «ordinary ups and downs of human life» risk being labeled as an illness.

Sir Ian said it was also vital to «reduce the overall tax burden» by reducing income tax. He said: «This is where people notice it on their pay slips and find it makes more sense to work longer.»

World GDP growth is expected to slow to 2.8% a year at the end of the decade, according to the IMF. a quarter slower than the pre-pandemic average. UK growth is not expected to exceed 2% for any significant period.

This threatens to have painful consequences for governments already struggling with rising debts and being forced to spend more on pensions and health care.

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Critical to driving economic growth and prosperity is getting more people into work and ensuring they move into the most productive industries and companies.

In addition to encouraging more people to take up work, the IMF said increasing migration could help stimulate the economy. and compensate for the effects of population aging.

The IMF said: “Policies to ease the flow and integration of migrant workers, along with measures to increase labor force participation of older workers in advanced economies – through pension reforms and labor market programs – can mitigate growing demographic pressures on supply. work force».

Diaa Nureldin, an IMF economist, said migration would provide a useful boost to growth if they were integrated correctly.

“We want them to integrate into society. , will have high-paying jobs, their skills will be fully recognized, and they will be able to fully participate in the labor market.»

While the United States has been successful in increasing labor productivity over time, other countries are struggling to match these indicators and need new policies for faster growth, the IMF said.

Cutting subsidies and cutting bureaucratic red tape could help while boosting international cooperation. Trade can also force companies to become more competitive, the IMF says.

In a separate report, the organization warns governments against industrial policies that include costly, wasteful subsidies or that risk starting trade wars by locking out foreign companies from their markets.

The IMF said: “Industrial policies that channel innovation into specific sectors, such as green (low-carbon) technologies and artificial intelligence, are experiencing a revival in many large economies amid concerns about economic and national security, often at huge financial cost. < /p>

“History shows that industrial policy is prone to policy mistakes. Even when projects transform industries, they often have high fiscal costs and negative cross-border impacts.»

International disputes can be particularly costly, the IMF said.

«Policies that discriminate against foreign firms may be particularly self-defeating as much knowledge is imported even into the largest advanced economies, and such policies could provoke costly countermeasures,” the report says.

The EU and US have recently opposed the scale of Chinese subsidies to manufacturers of solar panels and electric vehicles, which Washington and Brussels say are flooding the world with unfairly cheap goods.

Beijing has hit back at measures it says are discriminatory in towards his country. company.