The first reading for the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the first quarter of the year has come in at a relatively respectable 0.8%, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The latest figure means that the UK economy has expanded for five straight quarters – the longest period of sustained growth since the Global Financial Crisis struck.
Inevitably, the latest figures are viewed more or less favourably by politicians depending on their allegiances. According to the UK’s Chancellor, George Osborne, the data meant that "Britain is coming back", but he cautioned that the recovery still can’t be taken for granted: "The impact of the Great Recession is still being felt, but the foundations for a broad based recovery are now in place. The biggest risk to economic security would be abandoning the plan that is laying those foundations." In other words, next year will see a general election, so if you want the recovery to continue vote for my party.
The shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, naturally had a different take on the same ONS data. He noted, not without justification that: "… millions of hardworking people are still feeling no recovery at all. Now that growth has finally returned, the question is whether ordinary working people will properly feel the benefit and we have a balanced recovery that's built to last". Of course, the best way to ensure that would be to vote for Labour next year, or so he’d have you believe.
The ONS estimates that UK output is still 0.6% below its pre-crisis peak back in 2008. What this means is that the Global Financial Crisis cost Britain (and much of the rest of the world) at least six years in lost output, putting the depth of that crisis into perspective. The UK unemployment level still stands at 6.9% of the workforce, some 2.2 million people. In 2007, before the crisis, unemployment stood at about 5.3% or 1.7 million, so unemployment has yet to fall to pre-crisis levels.