Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce has released the latest edition of its Economic Outlook looking at key economic indicators from government and other sources to assess what impact they will have on business and wider living conditions.

With two significant elections on the horizon for Greater Manchester and the UK, the Chamber is providing the business community with the essential information required to make well-informed decisions.

Here are some of the highlights from the latest Economic Outlook:

• There was an unexpected fall in growth in October confirming the low-to-no growth cycle the UK economy is currently in.

• Regular pay rose by 7.8% (private sector 8.2%; public sector 6.2%) the highest annual growth since 2001, fuelling concerns about another interest hike as this level of wage growth is incompatible with the Bank of England’s 2% inflation target.

• Unemployment rose from 4% to 4.2% and the number of vacancies fell again, down 66,000 although there are still over a million vacancies.

• Total UK export volumes fell 0.3%; volume of goods exported to the EU slumped 7 % in October following a 3.4% fall in September – the main areas of decline were chemicals, manufactured goods (including pharmaceuticals) and food.

You can download the full report at https://www.gmchamber.co.uk/campaigns/economic-outlook/