£4.3billion!

[Corus Boy]

Government figures show that prostitution added about £4.3billion to the economy.

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At say £60 per punt that equates to;

£4,300,000,000/£60 = 71,666,666 punts

71,666,666 punts/365 days = 196,347 punts per day.

That is a lot of ladies lying on their backs

[Quesadilla]

Government figures show that prostitution added about £4.3billion to the economy.

External Link/Members Only

At say £60 per punt that equates to;

£4,300,000,000/£60 = 71,666,666 punts

71,666,666 punts/365 days = 196,347 punts per day.

That is a lot of ladies lying on their backs

Assuming we agree with £60 per punt, based on the 2011 census, let's say the potential punting population includes all males between 18 and 65 (of course many punt older but let's not get carried away!) - by my calculation that equates to around 15 million adult males. That equates to around 5 punts per annum per viable member of the population. 

But of course, many punters will only punt for a proportion of their adult life so that really does start to test the statement made by some of the media recently that "1 in 10 men use prostitutes in their lifetime". 

That is a whole lot of punting going on! 

[rafatheira]

Christ that's a shit load!

The 1 in ten men shag a wg in their life is probably the worst statistic I have come across I reckon. 

[Corus Boy]

My thought was this indicates that £4.3 billion is a badly imagined guess to boost GDP figures.

[The_Don]

Just been reading this at work and was going to post it.


Just goes to show, the market is booming.

[LL]

My thought was this indicates that £4.3 billion is a badly imagined guess to boost GDP figures.

Guestimate rather than a guess.
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[tazman1002001]

These working girls are stinking rich then.....or there pimps are rich lol...

[Quesadilla]

These working girls are stinking rich then.....or there pimps are rich lol...

It's pretty simple maths - a WG only has to do one punt per day, 6 days per week at £100 ph to earn the equivalent of £30k per annum.  Obviously if they choose not to declare it to HMRC that would be equivalent to more like a pre-tax salary of £50k. 

Two punts per day or a higher hourly rate will push them towards a six figure salary fairly easily. 

[Trenlover]

It's pretty simple maths - a WG only has to do one punt per day, 6 days per week at £100 ph to earn the equivalent of £30k per annum.  Obviously if they choose not to declare it to HMRC that would be equivalent to more like a pre-tax salary of £50k. 

Two punts per day or a higher hourly rate will push them towards a six figure salary fairly easily.

yet you see only complaints when you read SAAFE forums.

Ive said it before I dont know how you couldnt be making a killing selling sex, charge £100 per hour, give a good service when punter turns up, sort your diet and exercise out to keep yourself looking hot.

How hard can it be? Yet seems most girls fail at it.

[Quesadilla]

yet you see only complaints when you read SAAFE forums.

Ive said it before I dont know how you couldnt be making a killing selling sex, charge £100 per hour, give a good service when punter turns up, sort your diet and exercise out to keep yourself looking hot.

How hard can it be? Yet seems most girls fail at it.

Only 4 maybe 5 out of the 34 WG's I've now seen do not get these basics right - the vast majority keep fit and healthy (and hot), deliver a good service and are reasonably well organised.  I've yet to find a bad one when relying on the reviews here on UKP. 

Not sure why so many do seem to get it wrong though, it's not rocket science. 

[iPad3]

Assuming we agree with £60 per punt, based on the 2011 census, let's say the potential punting population includes all males between 18 and 65 (of course many punt older but let's not get carried away!) - by my calculation that equates to around 15 million adult males. That equates to around 5 punts per annum per viable member of the population. 

But of course, many punters will only punt for a proportion of their adult life so that really does start to test the statement made by some of the media recently that "1 in 10 men use prostitutes in their lifetime". 

That is a whole lot of punting going on! 

This survey was only carried out recently, I think if you exclude your 12 lays of Christmas Ques the figures would be significantly reduced!!!

[Quesadilla]

This survey was only carried out recently, I think if you exclude your 12 lays of Christmas Ques the figures would be significantly reduced!!!

 

[myothernameis]

Government figures show that prostitution added about £4.3billion to the economy.

So they want to make buying of sex against the law, if they pass this law, they must be the ones that are mad, as they will be throwing away £4.3billion, but no doubt if labour are in power, and they bring this law in, the conservatives will lay the blame with the labour party

[Corus Boy]

Not really understanding all this high finance.

My question is;

Should a large lump sum be credited to the GDP of Romanian?  As many all these girls earnings are allegedly shipped straight home.

[charming_red]

^ Was thinking the same. A shitload of this money must get shipped back to EE countries.

[The_Don]

Not really understanding all this high finance.

My question is;

Should a large lump sum be credited to the GDP of Romanian?  As many all these girls earnings are allegedly shipped straight home.

Interesting point, are they staying. The money they spend here (rent, bills, food, wet wipes, condoms etc) ?

Or

All the cash they received from punters?

[LL]

Interesting point, are they staying. The money they spend here (rent, bills, food, wet wipes, condoms etc) ?

Or

All the cash they received from punters?

It's all there in the link I posted.

[Keema]

The method used by the ONS calculates the GDP from

Number of active prostitutes - based on a study of street prostitution from London in 2004 from a charity providing housing support to prostitutes, they then scale up the figures to UK wide and estimate there are 58,000 UK wide
Number of client episodes - based on a study from Amsterdam in 2005
Average charge per client - gathered from another website

They then multiply it by 52 and you get £4.3bn, but do you....

While the ONS have a problem here working it out, there are problems with each line of the equation. 

The first study of street prostitution will over estimate the number of working girls as it's very out of date and ignores the move away from streets to flats - flats are more expensive to run than a back alley and need more stability;

the second part of the equation also over estimates in that it is based on the premise that girls in Aylesbury are just as busy as those in Amsterdam where the number of client episodes were estimated; 

thirdly the site or any other website is not an accurate reflection of spending habits, just reflects on those who are linkable online or through a phone number -the reviews on sites like AW and another site and UKP for that matter, don't include the mundane; drunken shags; or for that matter the highfliers shagging their way to Monaco on a private jet. 

So using my first year pass in Economics reckon the figure is lower.   So why would the government make it higher - we needed a higher GDP than France!  Btw the ONS also reckon each WG spends £125 on clothes each year - make of that what you will.

[LL]

So using my first year pass in Economics reckon the figure is lower.   So why would the government make it higher - we needed a higher GDP than France!  Btw the ONS also reckon each WG spends £125 on clothes each year - make of that what you will.

So we got one up on France but they got the last laugh when the EU presents Britain with a huge bill for extra taxes as a result of our higher-than expected GDP whilst France (who decided not to include drugs and prostitution when presenting their own GDP figures for consideration) get a rebate!

[Keema]

All supposes the present govt want to pay the bill from the EU, better to give impression the UK is a top ranking country ( but don't talk about drugs and immoral earnings)

[Zeusthedoc]

^ Was thinking the same. A shitload of this money must get shipped back to EE countries.

not just EE - the far east too!

[Taggart]

Corus Boy, do you really believe the bollocks in the Daily Mail?  If so, shame on you and others.
It is THE worst tabloid for misquoting and distorting fact, and coupling that with bigoted or sensaltionalist crap.


To quote a poster on a Yahoo forum: "You only have to read the Press Complaints Commission website to get an idea of the amount of sheer nonsense the Mail prints.

The Mail is sneering, dismissive and hateful of you if you fall anywhere outside its Southern English Tory middle aged middle class bubble. This is evidenced by the number of negative and often blatantly provocative articles they print about left wing politics, Northern England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, alternative lifestyles, the poor and working class, gays and lesbians, the young, ethnic minorities, religious minorities, foreigners and other assorted folk. "

Ever heard the saying 'never let the facts get in the way of a good story' ???

In the case of this story, think of a number an treble it !

[LL]

think of a number an treble it !

Or in this case, find a number given by the office of national statistics then quote it verbatim. I agree the daily mail is shit. Actually I'm not sure anybody takes it seriously, but on this occasion they're not making the figures up themselves.

[Taggart]

Or in this case, find a number given by the office of national statistics then quote it verbatim. I agree the daily mail is shit. Actually I'm not sure anybody takes it seriously, but on this occasion they're not making the figures up themselves.

But doesnt this smell like the report cases of traffickiing that never were?  All manufactured figures?

[Taggart]

Or in this case, find a number given by the office of national statistics then quote it verbatim. I agree the daily mail is shit. Actually I'm not sure anybody takes it seriously, but on this occasion they're not making the figures up themselves.

But doesnt this smell like the report cases of traffickiing that never were?  All manufactured figures?

[Mij]

The figure will probably drop a lot next year though now hendrix has retired! 

[LL]

But doesnt this smell like the report cases of traffickiing that never were?  All manufactured figures?

No I don't agree with that. If you read the report you'll see that a lot of research has gone into it and a lot of different sources have been used including punting forums. There's a lot of detail there and in the figures they've used I really wouldn't know any better myself just because I'm a punter. E.g the average fee a client pays was estimated at £55 in 2004 and this figure is adjusted by CPI to get a value for latter years. Many people might think that fee is very low but then imagine how many punters are serviced in 30+ Soho walkups each day, paying ~£20 a time. I imagine there are cheap setups like this up and down the country which offset the more expensive punts when calculating an average.

Also I'd like to quote a part of the report...

reasoning from the principle that involuntary transactions are not included in the production boundary and hence not in the accounts, we discard all involuntary employment, where prostitutes are forced to work, and assume that this does not exist in the numbers we have as there is no direct evidence.

So bare in mind that trafficked/coerced prostitutes' proceeds (or rather those of their controllers) are not even included in the figure of £4.3 billion. I just mention that as you referred to trafficked women in your comment - not in relation to the figures but just so that's clear.

So perhaps we can have an intelligent debate about the study. Pick holes in the figures and methods (which I'm sure are not perfect) only after reading the study and quote the parts you're referring to if necessary.

A reminder of the link
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[odynsfee]

Can some body tell me how this money is contributing to the economy when (I should imagine) the vast majority of this amount is not even being taxed ,I know that they have to buy condoms and some do rent a flat just for the punting ,big deal, I would rather call it moving money around..

[Private Parts]

Can some body tell me how this money is contributing to the economy when (I should imagine) the vast majority of this amount is not even being taxed ,I know that they have to buy condoms and some do rent a flat just for the punting ,big deal, I would rather call it moving money around..

And as money is moved around buying goods and services so too is VAT being charged and jobs created providing these.
In essence
PP

[LL]

And as money is moved around buying goods and services so too is VAT being charged and jobs created providing these.
In essence
PP

And if any of a prossie's earnings are spent on fags or booze (I make no judgements!) then most of that will go back into the economy considering the tax percentage on these things. Even fuel for their cars actually - most of that will be tax.
Not to mention stamp duty on property they would not have been able to afford without their high income, etc, etc.