US Makes Announcement Aimed at Ending Cuban Embargo

Wage growth in the UK is picking up, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicate.

In the August-to-October period, average earnings excluding bonuses were up 1.6% from a year earlier. Including bonuses, earnings rose by 1.4%.

It is the first time for six years that both measures of earnings growth have been above the inflation rate.

Meanwhile, the number of people unemployed in the quarter fell by 63,000 to 1.96 million.

The fall was the slowest quarterly fall for a year, leading some analysts to speculate that the rate of improvement may have peaked.

The jobless rate was 6%, matching its lowest level in six years.

The ONS figures also showed that there were 30.80 million people in work in the three-month period, 115,000 more than for the May-to-July period, driven by more people in full-time work.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in November fell by 26,900 to 900,100.

rade has been frozen between both countries for half a century now. Americans want Cuban cigars, rum and clothing — but can’t get them. Cubans love American cars — but they’re still driving Chevys made in the 1950s.

The current embargo is expensive too. Every year, the U.S. economy loses out on $1.2 billion in missed sales, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Cuban government says it misses out on $685 million each year because of the embargo.

Shortly after Fidel Castro’s armed revolutionaries deposed the Batista regime in 1959, the United States placed economic sanctions on Cuba — blocking exports since 1960. These trade restrictions only got tighter in 1962.

via BBC

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