The ONS estimate of UK GDP for November showed month-on-month growth of +0.1% following an unrevised fall of -0.1% in October;  this means that over the past 3 months (compared to the previous period), the UK economy was flat.  The service sector parallels the overall economy, with growth in the construction sector balancing the decline in manufacturing.

We cover the manufacturing sector in a separate item, so this note will look at the construction and services groups.  Output of the construction sector increased by +0.4% in November and by only +0.2% over the latest 3 months.  In the month-on-month comparison, both new work (+0.3%) and repair & maintenance (+0.5%) grew compared to October but for the 3-month rolling trend, the growth came entirely from new work (+0.4%), with repair & maintenance activity flat.

For the services sector, output grew by +0.1% in November but for the latest 3-month period (compared to the previous block of 3 months), there was no change in output.  On the latter basis, output increased in 7 of the 14 activity groups, with the most significant positive contribution coming from “human health & social work activities” – this was mainly a base effect as the comparison period (June, July and August) included six days of strike action by junior doctors.  The largest fall was in “administrative & support service activities”.

Consumer-facing services saw output increase by +0.3% in the 3 months to November.  The largest positive contributions in this period came from growth of +1.7% in “wholesale & retail trade & repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles” and +0.4% in “retail trade, except of motor vehicles &motorcycles”.  This was partly offset by a decline of -0.7% in “food & beverage service activities” and -1.2% in “sports activities & amusement & recreation activities”.

There are more details in the range of ONS Statistical Bulletins which can be downloaded from their website at https://www.ons.gov.uk/releasecalendar (16 January) or on request from MTA.

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