2022 Exams - Key Statistics on the UK Economy

This series of five short videos provides an overview of many of the key stats on the UK economy to help students add in contextual application in their 2022 exams!

Economic Growth and Jobs

• Real GDP Growth (dropped 9.5% in 2020 but recovered by 6.8% in 2021)
• Unemployment Rate (reached 5.1% in 2020 but has fallen to 4.2% now)
• Job Vacancies (Reached a record high of 1.2 million by end of 2021)
• Youth Unemployment (11% of people aged 16-24 years were jobless)
• Long Term Unemployment (410,000 people out of work for > 1 year)

Inflation and Living Standards

• Consumer Price Inflation (reached 5.5% and expected to be above 8%)
• Wage inflation: Wages rising by 4.3% at end of 2021
• Real income per capita: $43,000 in 2020 – a large fall from 2019
• Mean disposable income: £36,000 in 2020-21
• Median disposable income: £30,000 in 2020-21

Government Finances

• Fiscal Deficit: Biggest post-war deficit; 12.5% in 2020, 11.9% in 2021
• National Debt: Has risen above £2 trillion and above 100% of GDP
• Yield on 10-year government bonds: Remain low but may rise > 2%
• Tax burden: Set to rise to 37% of GDP – highest for decades
• Income tax allowances: Frozen for 4 years (£12,500, 40% tax > £50,270)
• Corporation tax: Rising: 19% to 23% for companies with profits > £250K

Interest Rates and Credit

• Bank of England Policy Rate: Currently 0.5% - expected to rise
• Mortgage interest rates: Fixed rates: 2.4%, variable rates: 2.1%
• Size of quantitative easing (QE): Total worth £895 billion – set to fall
• House prices: Average house prices rose 10% in 2021
• Household debt: Now over £2 trillion, £220 bn of consumer credit
• Household Saving Ratio: Rose sharply in 2020 to 25% but now 19%

Other Indicators

• Minimum wage: Rising to £9.50 in April 2022 – significant rise
• Sterling / US Dollar exchange rate: £1=$1.30 / $1.35 – stable
• Sterling / Euro exchange rate: £1 = Euro 1.20 – recent appreciation
• World Crude Oil Price: Rising sharply – climbed above $130 a barrel
• Global Food Price Index: Surge in food prices especially wheat