It’s impossible to overstate the importance of the service sector to the modern UK economy. According to research by the House of Commons Library, it represents 81% of UK economic output and provides 83% of our employment. The service sector includes retail, financial services, public sector activities, business administration, hospitality, leisure and cultural businesses. The S&P Global/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index
The UK economy appears to be on a slow upward trajectory in 2024 after a rocky start and on the back of a tough business landscape in 2023. We hope this trend continues and improves as UK business owners desperately need some stability and growth. Delving deeper into April’s stats, there was mixed news with a pleasant surprise in the
The signs are that the worst of the cost of living crisis may be over for consumers, with CPI inflation at 3.4% in February now well below the rise in average pay of 6.1% for those in work. Pensioners have seen a huge hike of 8.5% and most benefits have been uprated by 6.7%. If only the situation facing businesses
Green shoots of recovery or another false dawn? The chart of the UK’s monthly GDP movement over the past thirteen months, published in mid-March by the Office for National Statistics, confirms just how erratic and weak our growth performance was in 2023. There were six monthly rises and six monthly falls, all of less than 0.75% and most far smaller
The Office for National Statistics has finally put an end to speculation and confirmed that the UK was in a technical recession in the second half of 2023. Forecasts for a recovery are muted, with the EY Item Club and the IMF predicting growth in 2024 of 0.9% and 0.6% respectively. Corporate insolvencies hit an all time high of 26,595
What next for the UK economy now we’re in a recession? Economists need ponder no longer, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) finally confirmed that Q4 2023 saw a fall in GDP adding to the negative outturn for Q3, thereby creating a recession which government sources dismiss as no more than ‘technical’. What it certainly counts as is ‘shallow’ by
