A leading independent economist has revealed the UK is outperforming Germany and France under various key metrics such as the construction PMI and new car registrations.
Independent economist Julian Jessop took to Twitter to share the news of Britain’s resilience compared to France and Germany.
Mr Jessop said:
“More good news on the UK economy (and another sector where Brexit Britain is outperforming Germany and France): the construction PMI climbed to 55.5 in November, from 54.6 in October, with supplier delays and price pressures easing…”
The economist was referring to the seasonally adjusted IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction PMI® Total Activity Index which has signalled a robust and accelerated expansion of overall construction activity for Britain at 55.5 in November, up from 54.6 in October.
The leading economist pointed out that other EU countries such as Germany and France were trailing behind. The Index shows in November, France was sitting at 51.6 and Germany at 47.9.
Mr Jessop also highlighted that Britain’s new car registrations have been growing over the last year (+1.7%) whereas Germany was experiencing a hammering (-31.7%) for November 2021 vs November 2020.
Mr Jessop also couldn’t help but mention how the UK has bounced back from the driver shortage which is still affecting parts of Europe and the USA. He tweeted:
“Miraculously, the driver shortage is easing without the UK having to rejoin the EU!”
Much was made in the past year of the shortage of HGV drivers and other logistics workers. But after a challenging 12 months for the sector, a new report published yesterday (6th December 2021) by business group Logistics UK shows there is cause for cautious optimism across the UK.
The Logistics UK Skills Report 2021 reveals that significant steps have been taken to help address the recruitment issues which have plagued the sector for years, with government and industry working together to increase capacity to test new drivers, provide new training schemes, and commit to improving facilities available to those working across the roads network.
Elizabeth de Jong, policy director at Logistics UK said:
“Government announcements to help address issues across our sector, including increasing driver testing throughput, funding Skills Bootcamps to train HGV drivers and a commitment to improved overnight parking provision, have been at pace.”
