March’s edition of the West Midlands Economic Monitor is now available for you to keep up to date with recent developments in the region.
This month’s monitor shows:
- PMI softened in February, but still depicted growth, and the claimant count has increased by over 20,000 people since last year.
- The global COVID-19 pandemic is beginning to show evidence that we are heading into a global recession, whilst UK GDP could decline by as much as 15%.
- The government has committed to the Midlands Rail Hub, a £2 billion rail plan to improve east-west rail connectivity, and capitalise on HS2, will provide a productivity boost via a greater and enlarged labour force.
- During February, private-sector output in the West Midlands continued to expand, building on the growth that began at the start of 2020 following the General Election.
Download the latest edition of the monitor (PDF).
The West Midlands Economic Monitor was written by Ben Brittain, Policy and Data Analyst, City-REDI, University of Birmingham.
Disclaimer:
The opinions presented here belong to the author rather than the University of Birmingham.
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