Service industries: Key Economic Indicators

Gloria Tyler

Service industries: Key Economic Indicators

Published Thursday, October 10, 2019

Service industries: Data for the sector that incorporates the retail sector, the financial sector, the public sector, business administration and cultural activities.

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The service industries include the retail sector, the financial sector, the public sector, business administration, leisure and cultural activities.

In 2018, the service industries accounted for 81% of total UK economic output (Gross Value Added). Services accounted for 83% of workforce jobs in June 2019.

Services Output

Compared to a year before, services output in August 2019 increased by 1.5%.

Services output for the three months to August 2019 increased by 0.4% compared with the three months ending May 2018.

The professional, scientific and technical sector was the biggest contributor to growth in the services sector in the most recent quarter.

Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)

In the Markit/CIPS PMI, a value of 50 means that there is no change compared to the previous month. Values above 50 indicate an expansion, and values below 50 a contraction.

The UK services PMI was 49.5 in September 2019, down from 50.6 in August. This was only the fifth time in over a decade that the PMI has been below 50.

Markit/CIPS blamed this trend on a decline in both new and outstanding business, while there was also the biggest fall in employment in over nine years.