Short-term output indicators: January to March 2022

Data showing the short term movements in the output of industries in the production, construction and market services sectors for January to March 2022.

Impact of coronavirus

These estimates cover January to March 2022 and annual estimates for April 2021 to March 2022. These time periods, as well as those used for annual comparisons, occurred during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Care should be taken when interpreting these indices, estimates for individual quarters can fluctuate and it is recommended that emphasis is based on longer-term trends.

Estimates for Wales are typically more volatile than the UK, and as a result comparison between the two should be made with caution, especially over the shorter-term.

Main points

This chart shows the time series for the indices of production, construction, and market services since 2000. The overall trend is the index of market services and index of production have generally increased since 2000, but the index of construction has fluctuated over the same time period. All indices experienced a steep fall in 2020 Q2 due to the coronavirus pandemic, however have since been recovering or are fully recovered.

All three indices increased on an annual basis; the latest four quarters (April 2021 to March 2022) for Wales. On a quarterly basis all indices showed increases. This follows a period of change with the largest quarterly decreases on record in April to June 2020 (which included part of the initial lockdown period) and the subsequent largest increases on record during July to September 2020 (reflecting the easing of restrictions over the summer months).

Index of Market Services

The longer-term trends show a 9.3% increase for Wales and a 10.7% increase for the UK in the year to March 2022, compared with the previous twelve months.
In Wales, six of the nine Market Service industry indices increased on an annual basis.
The Index of Market Services for Wales shows a 1.1% increase when compared to the previous quarter. UK output increased by 0.9% over the same period.

Index of Production

The longer-term trend shows a 4.4% increase for Wales and a 6.0% increase for the UK in the year to March 2022, compared with the previous twelve months.
The Index of Production for Wales shows a 3.1% increase when compared to the previous quarter. UK output increased by 1.3% over the same period.

Index of Construction

The longer-term trend shows a 21.7% increase for Wales and a 15.5% increase for the UK in the year to March 2022, compared with the previous twelve months.
The Index of Construction for Wales shows a 0.7% increase when comparing the latest quarter to the previous quarter. UK output increased by 2.2% over the same period.

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