London's Economy Today - Issue 223 - March 2021

The overview

• UK economy shrinks in January
• London sees another rise in unemployment
• London should see a return to output growth in the spring

Economic indicators

• In February, London’s PMI business activity index returned to positive sentiment. The business activity PMI index for London private firms rose to 52.1 in February from 44.9 in January. An index reading above 50.0 indicates an increase in new orders on average across firms from the previous month.
• In February, expectations for house prices for the next three months remained negative despite a significant monthly improvement according to surveyors. The net balance of house prices expectations was -13 in February in London, higher than the figure for January of -39.
• Consumer confidence in London improved but remained negative in March. In March, the consumer confidence index in London rose to -3, to a level where it was in February 2020. It was -12 in February 2021. 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 Adult Education Budget Data Publication

• GLA Economics presents key aspects and findings of the latest AEB data release, covering for the first time a full academic year (2019/20).
• In the 2019/20 academic year, there were 213,480 learners participating in the AEB programme. All of the Sub-Regional Partnerships and London Boroughs showed significant activity during the publication period.
• Of the 213,480 participants: 70% were female; 55% were from a Black or Minority Ethnic background; 10% were aged 19-23 (21,560 learners), 62% were aged 24-49 (131,330), and 28% were aged 50+ (60,590).
• Further breakdowns and more information about Mayoral areas of interest are available in https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/gla-adult-education-budget

London’s Economy Today data on the Datastore

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