The good news is that (as we predicted last month) growth for the first quarter of 2010 has been revised upwards to 0.3% from 0.2%. The fact that this is slower than the revised figure for the end of 2009 is, according to the Bank of England’s Inflation Report for May, probably due to temporary factors such as the weather. Business surveys point to a return to faster growth for the second quarter and few now predict that even the first tranche of spending cuts will push us into double-dip recession. The Bank of England’s projections for Gross Domestic Product growth are in the 2% – 3% a year range for the end of this year and beyond.
Unemployment rose slightly during the first quarter of 2010, just scraping above 2.5 million; which is good news for the economy generally, even if not for those directly affected. With the economy set to continue growing, we can be hopeful that the employment rate will soon bounce back to regain its 0.3% fall (to 72%) over the first quarter.
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