London's Economy Today - Issue 234 - February 2022

The overview

• Rising inflation places pressure on living costs
• All Covid restrictions to end in England
• London output continued to grow in the first half of 2021

Economic indicators

• Passenger journeys on London public transport decreased because of Christmas and Omicron-related restrictions with 140.2 million passenger journeys registered between 12 December 2021 and 8 January 2022, 66.5 million journeys less than in the previous period (14 November – 11 December 2021). 45.4 million of all journeys were underground journeys and 94.8 million were bus journeys. Numbers on both journey types decreased.
• In January, although the sentiment of London’s PMI business activity index remained positive for the twelfth consecutive month, the business activity PMI index for London private firms decreased slightly from 57.5 in December to 57.3 in January. The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) survey shows the monthly business trends at private sector firms. Index readings above 50 suggest a month-on-month increase in activity on average across firms, while readings below 50 indicate a decrease.
• In January, expectations for house prices for the next three months remained positive according to surveyors with the net balance of house prices expectations in London at 34, higher than the balance of 23 in December. The net balance index measures the proportion of property surveyors reporting a rise in prices minus those reporting a decline.

London's Economy Today supplement: Identifying green occupations in London

In a new GLA Economics report, we use an O*NET-based classification of green jobs to identify occupations that are likely to be affected by the transition to a low-carbon circular economy.

• The move towards a greener economy will lead to changes across a wide range of sectors and occupations. Occupations subject to greening are most concentrated in the skilled trades (55%) and to a lesser extent process, plant and machine operatives (34%) groups. But green occupations also account for around a third of jobs in London’s professional and associate professional & technical groups (32% and 36% respectively). This reflects the impact that greening is also expected to have on areas like finance & insurance and professional services, with implications for the skills needed to work in these sectors.
• There is a large degree of variation in skills and pay levels between green occupational categories. Overall, jobs holders in green occupations in London are relatively highly qualified. Yet there are also major differences between (and within) green categories.
• Skills-related difficulties are currently highest in green increased demand occupations, although this could change over time. The transition to a greener economy will have wide-ranging and variable impacts on skills and training requirements. There are a range of occupations where workers will need to carry out new or enhanced green tasks, with implications for education provision and workforce training. But our findings also indicate the need to address existing skills shortages to support the transition to a greener economy in London.

London’s Economy Today data on the Datastore

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