Output is now 1.1% above the pre-pandemic level of February 2020.

In the three months to May, GDP is estimated to have grown by 0.7% compared to the previous three month period. This indicates a slowdown in growth during Quarter 2 so far, after the increase of 1.0% in 2022 Quarter 1 (January to March) which was confirmed to be unrevised in the Quarterly National Accounts publication also released today.

In May, output in the services sector, which accounts for around three quarters of the economy, increased by 0.4% in total. At the broad level, output in consumer facing services grew by 1.6%, while health, education and public services output decreased by 0.4%, and output in all other services increased by 0.5%.

Overall output in the production, construction and agriculture sectors grew by 1.1%.Output in the services sector, which accounts for around three quarters of the economy, grew by 0.4% in May, only recovering some of the output lost in the 0.9% fall in April.

Output in health, education and public services fell by 0.4% in May, after also falling in April, mostly due to the reductions in NHS test and trace activities throughout April. Output across all other services grew by 0.5% in total, with a wide range of performance seen between the subsectors, reflecting in part the inherent volatility seen in month to month GDP movements.

At the same time, overall output in production, construction and agriculture grew by 1.1% compared to the previous month. This includes substantial growth of 8.9% in the electricity and gas supply industry due to record levels of wind power generation during the month. Manufacturing output fell by 0.3% in May, while construction output is estimated to have grown by 1.7%.