London's Economy Today - Issue 159 - November 2015

The overview

• Chancellor announces spending cuts but also a reversal of some tax credit cuts
• Chances of a UK interest rate rise soon pushed back
• Eurozone grows moderately in the third quarter of 2015

Economic indicators

• London’s annual employment growth decreased to 2.7% in Q1 2015 from 3.8% in Q4 2014.
• House prices, as measured by Halifax, were higher in Q3 2015 than in Q3 2014 for London and the UK.
• The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) of business activity recorded 57.2 in October 2015, up from 55.6 in September 2015

LET supplement: Eleven years of the London Living Wage

• On 2 November the Mayor announced the 2015 London Living Wage of £9.40 per hour. This was up 2.7 per cent, or £0.25 on the 2014 rate.
• Over the last 11 years the London Living Wage has risen by 40 per cent, faster than each of the National Minimum Wage, 33 per cent, Consumer Prices Index, 28 per cent, and Average Weekly Earnings, 26 per cent
• By November 2015 the number of accredited Living Wage employers had increased to 724, and the current estimate is that they have provided over 30,000 London workers with the living wage.