UK coming out of recession
The UK economy has begun to show growth, starting the last three months of last year. However, this has been the worst recession since records began, with painfully small growth of just 0.1% from the Office for National Statistics.
The predicted growth was 0.4%, and even that was fragile. This is causing some to worry that we are heading for a so-called double-dip recession and could re-enter negative growth.
The country plunged into official recession in the second quarter of 2008 and shrank by 6% over the 18 months. In 2009 alone, it slumped by 4.8%, which has been the biggest fall since the records began.
The figures from the ONS are estimates, using around 40% of the data, which means they could still be revised, with some analysts warning there may still be surprises ahead.
Although the UK has moved out of recession, this is not immediately restore the pitiful job market. A report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development showed that 1.3 million people had lost their jobs since the start of the downturn.
Unemployment fell slightly in December, but the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has warned that the number of people out of work is likely to remain high for some time.