Your December guide to the UK economy, giving you a monthly overview of the major trends impacting the UK's main business sectors.
The economy sees a subdued end to 2024…
The economy has ended 2024 on a damp note. The CBI’s growth indicator – a composite of our monthly business surveys – showed that expectations for growth turned negative in the three months to November, for the first time in almost a year. Our data chimes with the S&P Purchasing Managers’ Index for November, which deteriorated for the third month running.
Significantly, hiring intentions in our surveys also deteriorated. Businesses now expect to reduce headcount into the new year, with expectations at their weakest since early 2021. Once again, this chimes with other business surveys: the Bank of England Decision Makers’
Panel (DMP) expects to reduce headcount slightly in the year ahead, for the first time since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. At least some of this may be an early reaction to the rise in employment costs from measures a
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