Recession Update September 2009

August sees a large fall in total redundancies
In August a total of 6,151 redundancies were announced in Unite companies,
which was considerably down on the July total of 10,291. This downturn is the
lowest reported redundancy figure since September 2008, when 2,539
redundancies were reported. So are we finally seeing a softening in
redundancies? A note of caution would be that August is a prime holiday
month, which may have influenced reporting. So figures in September might
give a better indication of where we are heading.


UK economy ‘returning to growth’
There are signs that the economy has retuned to growth, says the governor of
the Bank of England. Mervyn King told a Treasury select committee hearing
that there were indications of a pick-up in activity, both in the UK and
overseas, but the effects of the recession will continue to affect people.
"Growth rates don't tell the full story, it's the levels that matter," he said.
"For most businesses and households the recession will continue for some
time."
King said the Bank's £175bn quantitative easing programme to boost money
supply and historically low interest rates of 0.5 per cent were helping support
a UK recovery.
"Six months after launching the programme, we are beginning to see its
impact on the supply of broad money and nominal spending," he said.
But he warned that the path ahead would be volatile.
Source: Dods Monitoring



Eurozone is 'exiting recession'


The eurozone is emerging from recession, according to the latest forecast
from the European Commission. "The economy appears to be at a turning
point," the commission said.
It forecast growth of 0.2% for the July to September quarter, with Germany
and France continuing to grow and Italy exiting recession.
The commission also forecast the UK economy, which is outside the
eurozone, would grow by 0.2% during the third quarter, marking the end of
recession.


Full report here: http://www.unitetheunion.com/pdf/Recession_Update_Sep09.pdf