Service industries: Key Economic Indicators

The service industries include the retail sector, the financial sector, the public sector, business administration, leisure and cultural activities.

The service industries accounted for 79% of total UK economic output (Gross Value Added) and 82% of employment in July-September 2022.

Services Output

There was an increase of 0.2% in the Index of Services between October and November 2022.

There was a decrease of -0.1% in services in the three months to November 2022 compared with the three months to August 2022.

In the three months to November 2022, compared with the three months to November 2021, services output increased by 1.4%.

Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)

In the S&P Global/CIPS PMI, a value of 50 means that there is no change in activity compared to the previous month. Values above 50 indicate an expansion, and values below 50 a contraction.

The UK services PMI was 48.7 in January 2023, down by 1.2 from December 2022. Reductions in business activity were blamed on low demand because of inflation and the risk of recession. However, output expectations were up, as were staffing numbers (although growth in jobs was fairly weak).