UK: The seasonally adjusted Index of Services in November 2009 fell by 2.3% compared with November 2008.

The Office for National statistics of the UK released today the Index of Services November 2009.


Analysis
Most recent month on a year earlier
Index of Services

The seasonally adjusted Index of Services in November 2009 fell by 2.3 per cent compared with November 2008.

In detail:
i) Four of the five components of the services sector decreased in the most recent month on a year earlier. The largest contribution to the decrease was business services and finance which fell by 4.4 per cent. The only component which increased was distribution.

Distribution

Output from distribution increased by 2.1 per cent compared with November 2008. In detail:
i) The largest contributions to the increase were retail which rose by 3.5 per cent and motor trades which rose by 7.7 per cent
ii) Within motor trades the main increase was in
• vehicle maintenance and repair
iii) Retail contributed 1.8 percentage points and motor trades contributed 1.2 percentage points to the 2.1 per cent most recent month on a year earlier increase

Hotels and restaurants
Output from hotels and restaurants decreased by 5.8 per cent compared with November 2008. In detail:
i) The largest contributions to the decrease were canteens and catering and bars
Hotels and restaurants

Transport, storage and communication
Output from transport, storage and communication decreased by 3.2 per cent compared with
November 2008.
In detail:
i) The largest contributions to the decrease were land transport which fell by 4.5 per cent, other
transport services which fell by 5.3 per cent and post and telecommunications which fell by 1.7 percent
ii) Within land transport the largest falls were in
• freight transport by road
• other scheduled passenger land transport
iii) Within other transport services the largest decrease was in
• other land transport (which includes the operation of terminal facilities such as railway and bus
stations and the operation of car parks)
iv) Within post and telecommunications the largest decrease was in
• telecommunications
v) The largest contributions to the 3.2 per cent most recent month on a year earlier fall were 1.2
percentage points from land transport, 1.2 percentage points from other transport services and 0.7percentage points from post and telecommunications

Business services and finance
Output from business services and finance decreased by 4.4 per cent compared with November 2008.
In detail:
i) The largest contribution to the decrease was other business services which fell by 5.5 per cent
ii) Within other business services the main falls were in
• labour recruitment
• management consultancy
iii) Other business services contributed 1.8 percentage points to the 4.4 per cent most recent month on a year earlier fall

Government and other services
Output from government and other services decreased by 0.7 per cent compared with November 2008.
In detail:
i) The largest contribution to the decrease was recreation which fell by 8.9 per cent
ii) Within recreation the main falls were in
• sporting and other recreational activities
iii) Recreation contributed 1.0 percentage points to the 0.7 per cent most recent month on a year
earlier fall

Revisions
This Statistical Bulletin conforms to the standard revisions policy for National Accounts. In this
Statistical Bulletin the only period open for revision is October 2009.
Table RIOS1 shows the revisions to the estimates previously published on 23 December 2009.
Revisions are mainly due to:
• Revisions to seasonal adjustment factors, which are re-estimated every month.
• Updated survey and administrative data.
• Actual data replacing forecasts.


The full release by the ONS