GDP Monthly Estimate, UK : May 2022
14th July 2022
Gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.5% in May 2022, after a decline of 0.2% in April 2022 (revised up from a 0.3% fall); UK GDP increased by 0.4% in the three months to May 2022, and by 3.5% in the 12 months to May 2022.
Services output grew by 0.4% in May 2022 as human health and social work activities grew by 2.1%, mainly because of a large rise in GP appointments, which offset the continued scaling down of the NHS Test and Trace and COVID-19 Vaccination Programmes.
Output in consumer-facing services fell by 0.1% in May 2022, driven by a 0.5% fall in retail trade, and non-consumer facing services grew by 0.5% in May, following a fall of 0.8% in April.
Production grew by 0.9% in May 2022, driven by growth of 1.4% in manufacturing and 0.3% in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply.
Construction grew by 1.5% in May 2022, following 0.3% growth in April. This is construction's seventh consecutive month of growth.
GDP grew by 0.4% in the three months to May 2022 with construction contributing 0.2 percentage points, while services and production contributed 0.1 percentage points.
Annual growth in monthly GDP was 3.5% in the 12 months to May 2022, down slightly from 3.7% to April 2022.
The services sector
Services grew by 0.4% in May 2022 and was the largest contributor to GDP growth. This follows a fall of 0.2% in April 2022 (revised up from a 0.3% fall).
Human health and social work activities increased by 2.1% in May 2022 and was the main contributor to May's growth in services (Figure 3) despite the substantial reduction in NHS Test and Trace and vaccination activity. This growth was driven by human health activities, which increased by 2.5% following a fall of 7.6% in April 2022. Growth in human health activities in May 2022 was mainly driven by a large rise (15%) in GP appointments in England.
The largest negative contribution to services in May 2022 was wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, falling by 0.8%. The main driver of negative growth in this sub-sector was wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles, which fell by 1.5%.
Consumer-facing services
Output in consumer-facing services fell by 0.1% in May 2022, following downwardly revised growth of 2.2% in April. Consumer-facing services was 4.7% below its pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) levels (February 2020) in May 2022, while all other services was 3.6% above.
The monthly fall in consumer-facing services was driven by a contraction of 5.3% in sports activities and amusement and recreation activities (Figure 5), however, it is important to note there is lower data content at this stage for these "areas". Elsewhere, retail trade also contributed negatively to consumer-facing services, falling by 0.5% in May 2022.
This was partially offset by growth in travel agency, tour operator and other reservation services and related activities, the largest positive contributor in consumer-facing services, which increased by 11.0%. Anecdotal evidence received from the Monthly Business Survey for Services suggested increased confidence in holiday booking following the end of COVID restrictions.
The monthly fall in consumer-facing services was driven by a contraction of 5.3% in sports activities and amusement and recreation activities (Figure 5), however, it is important to note there is lower data content at this stage for these "areas". Elsewhere, retail trade also contributed negatively to consumer-facing services, falling by 0.5% in May 2022.
This was partially offset by growth in travel agency, tour operator and other reservation services and related activities, the largest positive contributor in consumer-facing services, which increased by 11.0%. Anecdotal evidence received from the Monthly Business Survey for Services suggested increased confidence in holiday booking following the end of COVID restrictions.
Read the full report with more graphs and links at https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/bulletins/gdpmonthlyestimateuk/latest
