Safety gloves may be needed more as construction decline overestimated

It's official - the decline in construction output has been greatly exaggerated.

The Office for National Statistics has produced its second revised estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) in the April to June period of this year and has said the economy did not shrink as much as previously thought.

One factor in this was that construction activity fell by three per cent, not 3.9 per cent as previously thought.

An increase in demand for protective equipment like safety gloves may still be some way off, but economist Ian Kernohan of Royal London Asset Management has expressed optimism about the economy.

He said "most, if not all" of the decline in GDP in the second quarter was down to the extra Bank Holiday for the Jubilee, suggesting Britain's economy is no longer truly in decline.

Mr Kernohan also predicted a "sizeable bounce" in output in the third quarter, implying the recession will soon be officially over.

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