Regional growth slowest since January, says PMI
The East Midlands experienced its weakest rise in business activity since January in September, according to the latest purchasing managers’ index (PMI). New business growth and new orders also rose in the past four weeks.
Although the latest increase was the weakest since the start of 2010, it was still “solid and stronger than the average seen across the UK economy as a whole”, the monthly index showed. It was the 17th consecutive month of growth experienced by the region.
New business growth accelerated during September, and was faster than the UK economy average. New orders also rose, and have done so continuously for the past 12 months.
However, employment fell across a range of sectors for the second consecutive month. The losses, which were largely experienced in the manufacturing sector “contrasted with the UK as a whole”, which experienced a marginal increase in employment numbers.
