Agents' Summary of Business Conditions - August 2007

• Consumption growth slowed, with an easing in expenditure on both goods and services.
• Demand for housing also eased in most parts of the United Kingdom.
• In contrast, investment intentions remained robust in the service and manufacturing sectors.
• Overall, demand for exports was again buoyant.
• Recent flooding had affected agricultural output and disrupted production in local economies. But growth in manufacturing was solid, and construction output continued to expand rapidly. Service sector output growth also remained strong, though may have peaked.
• Employment intentions were elevated, with labour demand remaining strongest in the service sector. Recruitment difficulties became more pronounced.
• Capacity pressures persisted in the construction and service sectors and also rose in manufacturing.
• Growth in pay awards remained well contained. Total labour costs continued to increase more rapidly than the official earnings data, but had eased slightly.
• Annual input price inflation increased again in the month, as did output price inflation, and the process of margin rebuilding by manufacturers continued.
• Annual consumer price inflation ticked down, but remained higher than the average of recent years. Despite discounting by retailers, recent floods created uncertainty about the outlook for food prices. 

Agents' summary of business conditions - August 2007

• Agents' scores (xlsx)
• Definitions for the Agents’ scores
• Response to consultation on changes to Agents' scores