Service industries: Key Economic Indicators

Gloria Tyler

Service industries: Key Economic Indicators

Published Tuesday, June 11, 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 2017, the service industries accounted for 79% of total UK economic output (Gross Value Added). Services accounted for 83% of workforce jobs in September 2018.

Services Output

In the three months to April 2019, services output increased by 0.2% compared with the three months ending January 2019.

The Index of Services was flat between March 2019 and April 2019.

Services output for the three months to March 2019 increased by 2.0% compared with the three months to March 2018.

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 51.0 in May 2019. This was up from 50.4 in April 2019, itself a rise from 48.9 in March, which was the lowest that it had been since July 2016.

Despite this continued return to growth and recovery of business optimism, political uncertainty still held back growth expectations.

New work rose for the first time since December 2018, and new employment was the highest it had been since November.