Premature for Government to be pleased about the World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ report, says IoD

Dated: 4 November 2010

Commenting on today’s release of the World Bank’s ‘Doing Business Report 2011’, Head of Regulatory Affairs, Alexander Ehmann, said:

“It’s would be premature for the Government to congratulate itself about the UK’s fourth position in this year’s ‘Doing Business’ report. In years past, labour market flexibility was a key component of the World Bank’s analysis, yet it has vanished from this year’s rankings.

“As shown over the past three ‘Doing Business’ reports, employing workers in the UK has become harder every year since 2007 and we suspect that if this year’s data had been published, it would have shown a further descent. Let’s remember that UK labour market flexibility has slipped down the international league table from 17th in 2007, to 21st in 2008, to 28th in 2009 and 35th in 2010.

“The World Bank’s ranking for the UK must therefore be taken with a pinch of salt, since it now leaves out one of the most serious barriers that the Government places on the private sector.”

ENDS

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Notes to editors

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