London's Economy Today - Issue 214 - June 2020

The overview

• Outlook for London’s economy remains gloomy as lockdown is eased.
• Inflation falls again in May as public debt rises above 100% of GDP for the first time in 60 years.
• London sees large rise in employment-related benefit claims.

Economic indicators

• In May, passenger journeys in London recovered slightly but remained very close to historic lows. Only 38.1 million passenger journeys were registered in May, 8.3 million more than in April which registered the lowest level of the historic series. As a reference, passenger journeys in February – when there were no lockdown restrictions – were 271.4 million. In May, 31.5 million of all journeys were Underground journeys and 6.7 million were bus journeys. The bus journeys are estimates of passengers boarding as the closure of the front doors to protect the drivers prevented validation of entry. The reduced demand on both modes follows from the Government advice not to use public transport except for essential journeys.
• The PMI New Business Index in London went up in May (29.7) from its lowest point in the recorded series (14.9) in April. This is the first increase in three months. An index reading above 50.0 indicates an increase in new orders from the previous month.
• In June, consumer confidence in London recovered part of the fall in April and May with the consumer confidence index in London at -14 in June after having registered a big fall between March and May (from 2 to -26). 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: GLA’s First Adult Education Budget Data Publication

This statistics publication contains provisional figures for the first two quarters of the 2019/20 academic year (pre COVID-19 crisis) in London.

There were 162,700 learners and 281,600 aims enrolments during the period observed.

Amongst learners participating in the AEB programme in London:

• 71% were female;
• 56% were from a Black or Minority Ethnic background (including Mixed, Asian, Black and Other Ethnic Group learners);
• The majority were aged 24-49 (60%);
• 15% consider themselves to have a learning difficulty and/or disability and/or health problem;
• In Adult Skills learning only, 51% of providers received the disadvantage uplift funding
• 5% of the learners received learner support to enrol in 15,370 courses.

London’s Economy Today data on the Datastore

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