Economic Indicators, January 2013

ONS revised GDP growth in Q3 compared with Q2 2012, from 1.0% to 0.9%. This is the largest quarterly rise in GDP since Q3 2007, although ONS have cited some special factors, such as the Olympics, to explain the growth in Q3 2012. December also saw the publication of positive labour market data, with a rise in employment and a fall in unemployment over the three months to October 2012. However, productivity growth data for Q3 2012 showed that output per hour had fallen by 2.4% over the last year. The December purchasing manager’s index for the services industry showed activity falling slightly in this important sector, the first monthly decline since December 2010.