London's Economy Today - Issue 197 - January 2019

The overview

• Rising uncertainty around Brexit
• Worries about the strength of the global economy as China slows
• Employment in London remains strong but business surveys point to areas of concern

Economic indicators

• A total of 298.6 million passenger journeys were registered between 1 November and 28 November, 10.7 million more than the previous period. Both Underground and Bus journeys increased - by 5.5 million and 5.2 million, respectively -. 118.2 million of the total journeys were Underground journeys and 180.4 million were bus journeys.
• The PMI New Business Index was 50.2 in London in December, a small increase on November (48.9, the lowest level since July 2016). An index reading above 50.0 indicates an increase in new orders from the previous month, while a reading below 50.0 indicates a decline in new orders.
• Consumer confidence in London was -1 in December, up slightly from -2 in November. The GfK index of consumer confidence reflects people’s views on their financial position and the general economy over the past year and in the next 12 months. A score above zero suggests positive opinions; a score below zero indicates negative sentiment.

London’s Economy Today supplement: Regional, sub-regional and local Gross Value Added estimates for London, 1998-2017

• Using the Balanced Approach, London’s total GVA was above £425 billion in 2017, up 3.0% in real terms on 2016. It accounted for 23.8% of the UK’s total output.
• London had the highest GVA per workforce job (the usual measure of labour productivity) of any region in the UK at £72,371 in 2017, 41.1% higher than the UK average which was £51,297.
• The fastest rates of real GVA growth among the 33 London Local Authorities between 1998 and 2017 were seen in Hounslow and Camden at 170% and 130% respectively.

London’s Economy Today data on the Datastore

• The main economic indicators for London are available to download from the Datastore.