Service with a smile
Source:Editor's Blog
The service economy is maturing. Gloom over manufacturing, and reflections prompted by yesterday’s Longbridge reopening (the plant shipped to China, the assembly and development kept here) is lightened by positive noises from the CBI and Grant Thornton, who tell us today that three months of unexpectedly buoyant growth in consumer services and continuing high demand for business and professional services have led to very strong growth in employment.
The number of jobs in professional services, such as accountancy, law and property, rose at the fastest rate recorded since the survey began in November 1998. And numbers employed in consumer services, such as hospitality, travel and leisure, increased at the strongest rate for two years.
Unexpectedly high demand for consumer services is reported in the survey, echoing a similarly robust retail sector, which has not yet been slowed by several interest rate increases. Demand for business services has continued to grow strongly too, though below expectations and these firms expect demand to grow more slowly in the coming quarter.
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