Spending recovery now underway

The rebound in retail sales volumes so far in Q2 has provided us with some encouragement that consumer spending growth has regained some pace after the weak start to the year. Meanwhile, wage growth has started to rise again in real terms, with increases in pay outstripping inflation. What’s more, unemployment is very low and jobs are still being created at a robust pace. As such, we expect consumer spending growth to continue to gather pace over the course of this year. We have rebranded the UK Consumer Monthly as the UK Consumer Chart Book to align the publications across our services.