UK Economic Recovery Stalled in July Amidst Increasing Worker Shortages

The UK economy rose at a much slower pace than expected in July and still remains over 2% below pre-pandemic levels.

Source: Office for National Statistics

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In the three months ending in July, the UK economy grew 3.6%, largely due to the performance of the services sector. This partly reflects the gradual reopening of accommodation and food services activities.

Services output remained widely flat in July 2021, and remains 2.1% below its pre-COVID-19 level of February 2020. This follows strong growth of 1.5% in June 2021.

Production output increased by 1.2% in July 2021, with combined growth across the four sectors. This follows a fall in production of 0.7% in June 2021.

Output in consumer-facing services dropped by 0.3% in July 2021, its first fall since January 2021 mainly because of a 2.5% fall in retail sales.

The UK economy edged up 0.1% monthly in July, with growth slowing considerably from June’s 1.0% climb. A GDP increase of 0.6% was expected.