20/10/2016 World Business Report

Sparks fly over the US economy - but will it really affect

We continue our look at the booming gig economy.

Also in the programme the presidents of China and the Philippines meet

Our team in the region will have the latest.

We start with the US election - and that third and final debate

overnight between presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Hilary

overnight between presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Hillary

According to a recent poll the economy remains the biggest

But how healthy is it - and how will it influence

According to the latest figures from the US Census Bureau -

household incomes rose 5.2% last year.

That was the first real increase since before the financial

Hispanic Americans actually saw their incomes rise faster

than whites, Black Americans slightly slower, but all

This could be seen as positive for Clinton -

she's seen as inheriting the Obama legacy.

Take a look at the amount a white household earns - compared

Donald Trump has argued the Democrats have failed both

groups - these figures could be seen as backing that up.

1.4 million people found permanent jobs last year.

The Democrats say the Obama years were the longest streak of job

Donald Trump has criticised the quality of jobs created.

Here's a figure that's difficult to argue with though.

43.1 million Americans were living in poverty last year.

That's a slight improvement on the previous year but still five

million more than before the financial crisis.

Ironically neither side has talked much about poverty.

But poor people are far less likely to vote than well off people.

Here's how the candidates clashed over the state of the economy.

I propose that we invest from the middle out and the ground up. Not

from the top down. That will not work. That is why what I have put

forward will not add a penny to the debt what is the sort of approach

that will enable more people to take new higher waged jobs. We are seeing

an increase in incomes and we have had a long string of increasing

jobs. We must do more to get the whole economy moving and that is

what I believe we will be able to do. I just left some high

Representatives of India. They are growing at 8%. China grows at 7% and

that is a catastrophically low number for them. We are growing, our

last report came out and it is around 1% and there think it is

going down. Last week, at the end of last week, they came out with an

anaemic jobs report. A terrible one. In fact I said is that the last jobs

report before the election? Because if it is a should win easily because

it is so bad. Megan Greene, Managing Director

and Chief Economist, You are from Boston and you will be

returning home to vote before election day. What is your take on

the economy? There was nothing new. I thought the whole section on the

economy was disappointing, including some of the questions about how

stimulus had led to lower growth which is not the case at all. We

just saw a clip of Donald Trump complaining about the last jobs

report which was pretty good so I don't know what he is complaining

about. They are relying less on trickle-down economics so they want

to put money in the hands of the middle on the lower classes because

they are the ones who will spend it. Economically that is right and there

is nothing really new in this section. Hillary spoke of all the

policy she has discussed before and Donald Trump did as well but he was

a lot left it out and spoke about India and China. He said we could

hit five or 6% growth but I think our potential growth is around 125%.

When he spoke about India and China and the fact that there are

economies were booming and the fact that the country America have lost

so many jobs, so much work to those kind of economies because of the

poor administration of previous governments. I don't quite

understand how he would change that scenario when the future. He is

correct that we are adding jobs in low income sectors. That is not

because of the previous administration. That is driven by

global factories. There is a massive oversupply of cheap labour globally

that is keeping pressure off wages. There is not a lot of wage growth.

Also we consume a lot more services than goods. Goods are a high

producing sector. So, you know, in 1950 the US confirmed to third goods

one third services. That is now reversed. It is a trend we can not

lame on the last administration. They argue about trade and Donald

Trump is constantly criticising what Bill Clinton agreed to years ago.

When it comes to trade it is not clear what either will go for, is

it? If they get the job. That is true. There are few areas in which

the President has executive power. Trade is one of them. If we took

what they said about trade at face value it is clear that neither

candidate is as in favour of free trade is the current administration

and that is worrisome for growth. Can you take what said at face

value? Hillary Clinton has come out against TTP but in the past she has

been in favour so maybe she will flip-flop again. Donald Trump has

been protectionist in his rhetorical Will he implement policies? I think

it will tip the US into recession if he did so I think that he will back

off. We will have more in the debate later in this half-hour.

All this week, we been hearing from the workers and entrepreneurs

In the Europe and the US, up to 30% of the working-age

population earn some form of income through freelance service providing

But it's sparked fierce debate about the winners and losers.

Viktor Nyics, originally from Hungary, is a part-time driver

He is also the founder of a tech startup.

He says he likes the flexibility of being able to drive for Uber

I was always a creative person. I run a tech start-up and we are very

busy. Sometimes I can't drive for days. Sometimes I think all week I

will drive and I will make some cash. I love people, to be honest. I

enjoy many of the passengers in their company and when I get paid

for my time that is the icing. I have people pay for my petrol and I

do my business is I want to. All when I go away I don't need to ask

for permission. Is it a case I don't work? I don't want to be owned by a

company. I don't want to be ruled by a company. I want to do my projects,

I want to achieve my goals, build my own business. Live my life and run

my life as I see fit. I don't want to be asking for permission to go

for holidays or do this or that. I don't think that will be the future

of employment at all. What's more about that on our website. Let's go

to Asia where the Chinese president is hosting the Philippine president.

You can see them greeting each other behind me. Relations between the two

have not been great to see the very least. They locked in a territorial

dispute over the South China Sea. They are, hoping to improve trade

relations during this meeting. Let's go to our Asia business hub to find

out more about this. What is going on? How likely is it that they will

make an agreement on trade issues? It seems rather likely because

President Duterte debt is now -- is on a charm offensive seeking support

and trade on China by setting aside the thorny territorial disputes. He

was greeted earlier today by President Xi with full military

honours. At the seed of legislature in Beijing. They are there to

oversee of a raft of agreements between their governments following

discussions with them China has hailed the visit as a step towards

ending years of tensions which really reached a height after the

Philippines won a major arbitration dispute against territorial claims

in the South China Sea. But did not stop the bank of China agreeing to

loans of 3 billion dollars for infrastructure projects in the

Philippines. And more significant is the quote from Mr Duterte that it is

time to say goodbye to the US as he realigned his country 's interests.

That is all. Stay with us and we will discuss in more detail the

debate in a couple of minutes. Australia has said it wants to be

the first in line to sign a new trade deal with

the UK after Brexit.