Key Statistics: 24th July 2012

Glenigan's weekly roundup of keys statistics for the UK construction industry and the wider economy.

Construction

• At £1.8 billion the value of projects (excluding schemes over 3100m) placed on hold during the second quarter of 2012 was 41% down on a year ago and at its lowest quarterly level since the economic downturn, according to Glenigan research. Utilities and retail were the only two sectors to see a rise in the value of projects put on hold, the latter reflecting the reappraisal by leading supermarkets of their development programmes. 

UK Economy

• The Consumer Prices Index, the headline measure of inflation, fell sharply to 2.4% in June. This compares to 2.8% in May and a peak of 5.2% last September, according to the Office for National Statistics. The Retail Prices Index, which includes housing costs, fell to 2.8% from 3.1% in May.
• Retail sales volumes increased by 1.6% in June 2012 compared to a year earlier, according to National Statistics. The value of retail sales also rose, by 1.9%, over the same period. 
• The number of people out of work fell by 65,000 to 2.58 million in the three months to May, according to the Office for National Statistics. The unemployment rate fell to 8.1% in the period, down from 8.3% in the previous quarter. 
• The number of people in employment rose by 181,000 to 29.35 million. The rise in employment has been driven by an increase in private sector employment, which has offset a decline in public sector jobs. However, the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance also rose, by 6,100 to 1.6 million in June.
• Public sector net borrowing was £125.7 billion for 2011/12. This is £0.3 billion lower than the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasted. However subsequently, net borrowing during the first quarter of the current financial year has run ahead of the last year’s level once one-off distortions are removed. In particular the public sector current budget deficit stood at £41.6 billion during the first quarter up from £35.1 billion a year ago.  This helped lift public sector net borrowing by 11.7% during the first quarter, compared to a forecast 4.6% decline for the full year.