Record growth for business activity
Business activity rose at a record rate in the West Midlands in December according to the latest purchasing managers report for Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. West Midlands private sector companies reported increases for the eighth month in a row with the rate of expansion the strongest in the 16-year-old survey's history.
At the same time accountants BDO says its latest research has found business confidence in the UK is approaching a record high.
The Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking West Midlands business activity index found employment in the region's private sector also continued to rise in December, extending the current period of expansion to 12 months, but the rate of job creation eased to the slowest since May.
Dave Atkinson, the bank's area director for small and medium-sized banking in the West Midlands, said: "The West Midlands economy saw buoyant growth at the end of 2013, with business activity rising at record levels. With incoming new work also increasing at the strongest pace in the survey history, hopes will be high that this strength has carried over into early 2014.
"It would seem that this strong upturn in workloads will need to be maintained for a while to boost job creation, as employment growth eased further from October's peak to the slowest in seven months during December."
Lloyds' business activity index, which measures the combined output of the region's manufacturing and service sectors, was 61.7, up from 59.6 in November.
Meanwhile the latest research from accountants and business advisors BDO found business confidence in the UK is approaching a record high.
BDO's optimism index, which predicts business performance two quarters ahead, reached 103.4 in December, up from 103.1 in November and the highest reading in seven-and-a-half years,.
The employment index has also reached a 30-month peak as hiring expectations catch up with improving business confidence.
Mark Anslow, partner and head of BDO in the West Midlands, said: "We're encouraged to see that businesses are growing in confidence and have sharply increased their hiring intentions over the past month, which should help to keep the unemployment rate on a downward trajectory.
"The flip side of all this is that labour productivity is still far below its pre-crisis peak. As a result, the issue of underemployment remains, with some 1.5 million workers seeking full-time jobs being forced to work part-time over August-October 2013."
