Secondly, a significant increase in unemployment as those who lost their jobs in recent months (but have not yet been classified as unemployed) start actively looking for work, and with the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) in October. Tech stocks are rebounding, lifting the Nasdaq index up by 1%, or 111 points, to 11,030. PwC refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Under the conservatives, we've seen nine consecutive years of growth". The economic shock … Coronavirus (COVID-19) can cause potentially significant people, social and economic implications for organisations. Real wages failed to keep pace, and only rose by 0.3%. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details. Food and drink sector activities fell by 84.7% as a result of the closure of bars and restaurants in the second quarter, while car sales and retail activity plunged by 63%. The total value of exports however, has increased in the same period from £130 billion (€160 billion) to £240 billion (€275 billion). Reflecting the public health restrictions and forms of voluntary physical distancing in response to Covid-19, it said the pandemic had erased 17 years of economic growth in only two quarters – taking the level of GDP back to the equivalent position in June 2003. © 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. However, monthly figures for the economy indicate that an economic recovery from the pandemic strengthened in June as lockdown measures were gradually relaxed and pent-up demand fuelled a rise in consumer spending. The latest snapshot confirmed growth returned in May and strengthened in June, although not by enough to offset a dramatic collapse in output in April during the first full month of restrictions on business and social life, which was deep enough to push the economy into negative growth across the quarter. That is clear sign of when the Autumn budget will be. UK economic output shrank by 20.4% in the second quarter of 2020, the worst quarterly slump on record, pushing the country into the deepest recession of any major global economy. Eat Out to Help Out, the temporary cut in VAT for the hospitality and leisure sector), helped boost spending. The gradual winding down of the CJRS has coincided with a gradual increase in workers returning from furlough, but companies are also waiting to see how demand recovers later this year before making workforce decisions. Time for a recap. “The prime minister will say there’s only so much he could do during a global pandemic but that doesn’t explain why our economy is tanking so badly compared to other countries,” she said. And lastly, a slow recovery in business investment owing to a combination of weak demand and renewed Brexit uncertainty. Public sector finances are increasingly coming under pressure, due to the significant increase in government spending to support the economy during the crisis, as well as lower tax receipts. We expect the construction sector to grow in 2021, partly driven by fiscal measures to boost infrastructure investment. Gross domestic product (GDP) measures the value of goods and services produced in the UK. GDP Growth Rate in the United Kingdom averaged 0.51 percent from 1955 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 5 percent in the first quarter of 1973 and a record low of -19.80 percent in the second quarter of 2020. Under our “contained spread” and “further outbreak” scenarios, the UK GDP is expected to contract by between 11% and 12% in 2020 before returning to growth of around 10% and 4% in 2021. As the economy gradually reopened from May, there was a mild recovery across sectors, which accelerated in June and July. Britain has entered the deepest recession since records began as official figures on Wednesday showed the economy shrank by more than any other major nation during the coronavirus outbreak in the three months to June. Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, said many people would lose their jobs in the coming months. Spending in the economy by households and businesses plunged by a quarter as lockdown measures forced people to stay at home, shops closed, building sites fell idle and factories paused production. However, the speed of recovery beyond that remains highly uncertain with significant downside risks to domestic demand. While the new restrictions outlined by the Prime Minister affects fewer sectors of the economy than in March and are therefore less disruptive, prolonged uncertainty could dampen business and consumer confidence and constrain the recovery.