As a result, the UK economy is now 3.2% larger than in the same period a year ago: the fastest rate of growth since Q4 2007.
In the most recent quarter, agriculture, construction and production all had marginal impacts on GDP growth. The vast majority of growth came from services industries, with a positive contribution of 0.8 percentage points in Q2 2014. The sustained growth of GDP since late 2012 also means that on current estimates, the UK economy is now 0.2 percentage points larger than its pre-downturn peak in Q1 2008.
In Q2 2014 the employment rate – for those aged 16 to 64 – increased by 0.3 percentage points to 73.0%. This is the fifth consecutive quarterly rise, resulting in the employment rate being 1.5 percentage points higher than in the same period a year ago and equal to its Q1 2008 pre-downturn peak.
In the most recent quarter, unemployment continued its recent downwards trend, falling by 0.4 percentage points to 6.4% of those aged 16 & over, while total weekly hours increased on thequarter to reach 985.3 million hours.
