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Business News - October 2024

This month (October 2024) we have updates on the following topics:

  • General economic outlook
  • Conditions in the East Midlands
  • Skills in Demand in our Region
  • Challenges Faced by Businesses
  • Labour markets

General outlook:

  • According to the BBC the general growth outlook for the UK was positive through Quarter 2, growth slowed slightly in July, going from 0.6% to 0.5%. This was due to a slowdown in the construction sector, with less houses being built in the UK, as well as manufacturing
  • The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) found that there had been a sharp decline in business confidence in their latest survey of small businesses, this was compared to their previous survey in Q1 of this year. The swing in confidence among small businesses was significant going from +5.5 to -10.8, a positive number means that businesses generally have a positive outlook and a negative number means a more generally pessimistic expectation
  • While inflation held at 2.2% in August, which places it higher than the Bank of England’s 2% target the Bank still indicated that interest rates could be reduced. Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, said that the bank could be “a bit more aggressive” in cutting interest rates. (Source) The final two meetings deciding interest rates by the Bank of England this year will take place in November and December
  • An important date for businesses to be aware of is the 30th of October when the government will be announcing their financial priorities in their first budget since winning the election. This will be where the government lays out its spending and tax priorities and will be important for business planning.

Conditions in the East Midlands

This month we have a focus on the conditions for businesses operating in the East Midlands looking at business activity and outlook moving forward.

  • The East Midlands region saw the sharpest rise in new business this August since March 2022 according to the NatWest Regional Growth Tracker. With output growth at 51.9 in august, up from 48.3 in July the rate of business growth was the fastest in 3 months. This rise in activity was linked to stronger demand, an upturn in new orders and a rebound from pre-election uncertainty.
  • Despite this upturn in new orders, the NatWest growth tracker reflected the confidence results of the FSB survey mentioned previously, with business confidence figures softening in August. Though confidence remained in an overall positive position, the degree of this confidence had eased slightly
  • Additionally, though there was an new business, the East Midlands trend of contraction in staffing figures continued. This acceleration in job shedding was a result of a combination of non-replacement of those leaving positions voluntarily as well as job losses resulting from cost cutting initiatives
  • More information on East Midlands business conditions as well as the other UK regions can be found on the NatWest Regional Growth Tracker.

Main challenges faced by businesses:

  1. Economic uncertainty
  2. Hiring of new staff
  3. Competition with other businesses
  4. Insufficient domestic demand

Skills most in demand in our region in June 2024 were:

  1. Auditing
  2. Warehousing
  3. Continuous improvement process
  4. Mental health
  5. Nursing

Labour markets:

Ashfield's August 2024 figures show that we have 4.2% or 3,300 people of working age as claimants. This is slightly lower than in July 2024, which had 3345 people in Ashfield as claimants. While this figure is much higher than the East Midlands average of 3.8% it is marginally lower than UK average of 4.3%.

More Economic data for Ashfield District can be found on the NOMIS website:

Last updated: 7 October 2024