The economy contracted by 0.1 per cent in May – down by 0.4 per cent compared to May 2022. But this dip is largely being attributed to the extra bank holiday for the King’s Coronation. This morning’s update from the Office for National Statistics shows some changes in behaviour due to this one-off occasion, including a fall in production of 0.6 per cent (the biggest contributor to the overall dip in GDP) but a 1.8 rise in arts, entertainment and recreation.
Other events can be spotted in the data. Health and social work activities saw the biggest bounce back from April – a rise of 1.1 per cent – as the junior doctors strikes didn’t take place in May. Capital Economics points out this morning that May saw roughly half the number of working days lost to strikes compared to April, which would suggest that without the extra bank holiday (and suspended activities around it), monthly GDP would have probably ticked upwards, looking similar, perhaps, to April’s rise of 0.2
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