London's Economy Today - Issue 224 - April 2021

The overview

• London shops see business resume as lockdown is eased further
• London sees the highest UK unemployment rate
• UK trade with Europe recovers some of its losses from January but remains below pre-Brexit levels

Economic indicators

• Passenger journeys on London public transport recover marginally. 76.6 million passenger journeys were registered between 7 February 2021 and 6 March 2021, 8.2 million journeys more than in the previous period (10 January – 6 February). This is despite the continuation of the third lockdown.
• In March, the sentiment of the PMI new business index remained positive. The PMI new business index in London rose in March to 54.2 from 50.7 in February. These two months are the first time there has been positive sentiment since September. An index reading above 50.0 indicates an increase in new orders on average across firms from the previous month.
• Consumer confidence in London worsened and remained negative in April with the consumer confidence index in London falling to -12, from -3 in March. It is now at a level comparable with that of Summer 2020. 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: The retail sector in London and the impact of COVID-19 on trends

• Retail goods accounted for 4.2% of London’s output in 2018. Output and productivity have been growing, and at a faster rate than in the UK.
• The growth in e-commerce has been impacting adversely on the number of comparison shops since 2015. Despite this the number of retail shops in London rose in 2019.
• Prior to COVID-19 there was already a weakening of the relationship between the location of shops and where people work. Pressure on land in London has put the retail sector at risk in some areas. For example, there have been declines in the Central Activities Zone where there has been a growth in offices, and on high streets which have diversified into leisure activities.

London’s Economy Today data on the Datastore

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