The good and bad of 25 years of rising wages In the 1989-1993 recession, real wages continued to rise, placing significant cost burdens on employers, resulting in high unemployment. But between 2007-2012 real wages fell across the board. The bad news here is that falling real wages have not kept pace with rising inflation, squeezing real incomes and contributing to recessionary pressures by reducing consumer spending. But the good news is that those real wage cuts have reduced costs for employers so keeping unemployment at surprisingly low levels given the severity of the downturn. It's now 7.9pc. By the way, if you want the best-paid job versus hours worked then retrain as an airline pilot or flight engineer - they beat chief executives. But over 25 years, investing has beaten working. Real wages may be up 62pc but the FTSE 100 is up 109pc plus inflation-busting dividends which, if they had been reinvested in the market, would have produced a real total return of 672pc. Youth unemployment: the big issue for our economy According to Larry Summers, the former US Treasury Secretary and economic adviser to President Barack Obama, there is no more important long-term issue than youth unemployment. He was talking to The Sunday Telegraph at the weekend, insisting that a lot of the good ideas for solving this problem won't come from economists like himself poring over statistics. They are going to come from entrepreneurs, managers, investors, teachers, business leaders, policymakers and young people themselves. That's why The Telegraph Media Group has teamed up with Sir Alec Reed, the entrepreneur behind the eponymous recruitment agency, and the Henry Jackson Initiative to launch an essay competition inviting entries of 1,000 words addressing the problem and suggesting solutions. As an incentive to get to work on a piece, there's a £10,000 cash prize. Entries can be emailed or posted and all the entry details are online at telegraph.co.uk/essay. David Cameron highlighted the issue on Wednesday at Microsoft's launch of its new training scheme. The UK has youth unemployment of 20.5pc. In Germany it is about 8pc, where there are tax incentives to keep young people in the workplace, rather than making them redundant, with a combination of training and reduced hours. Once someone is in the workforce, it's more beneficial for the economy and society as a whole to keep them there, rather than subject them to welfare. But in order to get young people into jobs in the first place we need to continue reforming and improving education, too, to equip future generations to compete for work in a global economy. Protectionism in the jobs market is as damaging as protectionism in any market, most countries understand that, which is why there's such competition for jobs. But there aren't enough low-skilled jobs any more to keep large numbers of people employed here - those jobs have been exported to low-cost economies. Instead, whether we like it or not, British people need higher levels of skills, education and experience to find work. That's good for our economy as a whole but a challenge to individuals and their families. How we help make this happen is just one of the issues entrants to our essay prize might address. Economist trustees could play a big role in FT sale Speculation continues to swirl around the future ownership of Pearson's Financial Times newspaper. Bloomberg, a likely suitor, reported on Tuesday evening that Pearson had decided to consider offers for it, later denied by Pearson. But, of course, Pearson will consider offers at the right time and of the right value. An intriguing element to a bid for the FT Group will be its 50pc stake in The Economist, held through Financial Times Ltd. It's a valuable investment for the FT. The latest accounts show The Economist had annual sales of £362m (up 4.3pc), pre-tax profit of £65m (8.3pc), earnings per share of 188.7p (6.9pc) and a total dividend of 156p a share (8.4pc) - a yield of 6.2pc. But the FT's stake is in the form of Economist B shares, the transfer of which requires consent from The Economist's four trustees whose own "trust shares" give them the right to ensure The Economist's independence, both editorially but also in terms of ownership. However, the trustees are not a poison pill to block new owners of The Economist's B shares, but they are a serious check on their fit and properness, which could have a material bearing on any future auction of the FT.