Grant Fitzner

🚨Vacancy reopened: National Statistician’s Economic Statistics Classifications Technical Advisory Panel Chair Following an update, the role now includes a £5,000 remuneration. Closing date: 30 April 2026. Find out more: uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/news/vacancy-n…

VAT data is fast, comprehensive, and already collected from all UK firms with turnover above £90,000. But how reliable is it for measuring economic growth? Catch up on the ESCoE webinar with Russell Black (@biztradegovuk, @KingsCollegeLon & ESCoE): youtu.be/8TVTGPXdMz0

Commenting on today’s GDP figures, ONS Director of Economic Statistics Liz McKeown said 💬

The households’ saving ratio grew to 9.9% in Quarter 4 2025, up from 9.1% in Quarter 3.

GDP grew by an unrevised 0.1% in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2025, following unrevised growth of 0.1% in Quarter 3 (July to Sept). Read more ➡️ ons.gov.uk/economy/grossd…

The UK’s underlying current account deficit narrowed to £8.4bn, (1.1% of GDP) in Quarter 4 2025, this is a change of £0.6bn compared with a revised deficit of £9.0bn in Quarter 3. Read more ➡️ ons.gov.uk/economy/nation…

These slides from the excellent @lugaricano are a must read for any European policymaker who seriously wants their country to thrive as AI advances. We urgently need to ensure that our economy is ready to take advantage of AI or we will be left behind. In a rapidly changing and uncertain world, the only way to ensure security is to ensure that we have the means to pay for it. imfs-frankfurt.de/fileadmin/even… I would add one point: if AI develops to a point where it is a ‘gross substitute’ for human labour (elasticity of substitution > 1), the human labour share of GDP may shrink. At that point there is no reason to assume that GDPs per capita in developed countries will cluster as they have. Being left behind could mean being left very far behind indeed.

Annual UK public service productivity increased by 1.4% in 2023, following a downwardly revised increase of 3.8% in 2022. However, it remains 4.1% below the 2019 pre-COVID levels. Read more ➡️ ons.gov.uk/economy/econom…

Commenting on today’s retail sales figures up to Feb 2026, ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach said 💬

Non-store retailers, which are mainly online, saw strong sales across the last three months, peaking in Jan 2026. Retailers’ comments suggested that video games, wine, sports supplements and sports clothing sold well over Dec and Jan.

Retail sales were 0.7% up in Dec 2025 to Feb 2026 on the previous three months. This was because non-store retail did well in the three months to Feb 2026 following a weaker Nov, as well as strong sales volumes for non-food stores in Jan 2026. ➡️ ons.gov.uk/businessindust…

How much do you need to earn to buy a home in your local area? Explore housing affordability in your neighbourhood using our interactive calculator ➡️ ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulati…

In the week to 22 March 2026, compared with the previous week, there were increases in: · the System Average Price (SAP) of gas (8%) · the System Price of electricity (31%) Both increased compared with the equivalent week of 2025 by 34% and 6%, respectively.

Median annual earnings were £39,300 in England and £35,800 in Wales in 2025. The median home cost: · 7.6 times those earnings at £300,000 in England · 6.0 times at £213,000 in Wales Read more ➡️ ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulati…

February’s inflation figures have, for the first time, included supermarket scanner data, replacing many of our physically collected prices, marking a significant improvement in our measurement and understanding of changing prices.  Find out more ⬇️

Commenting on today’s inflation figures for February, ONS Chief Economist Grant Fitzner said 💬

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by 3.0% in the year to February 2026, unchanged from the 12 months to January 2026 as various price movements offset each other. Read more ➡️ ons.gov.uk/economy/inflat…

How is the @ONS streamlining its approach to measuring national well-being? Catch up on the ESCoE webinar with Vasiliki Sogia: youtu.be/LNizeMW49Dw And read the ONS blog on the topic: tinyurl.com/4bj8uu49

62.2% of FTE employees in the London region worked in firms in the 10 lowest-emission industries in 2024, while the East Midlands had the lowest proportions of those employed in these industries (38.6% of all FTEs). Explore our interactive map 🔎 #jobs-in-green-firms:~:text=Figure%204%3A%20In%202024%2C%20the%20highest%20shares%20of%20all%20FTEs%20in%20the%2010%20lowest%E2%80%91emission%20industries%20outside%20of%20the%20London%20region%2C%20were%20in%20Bracknell%20Forest%20(66.7%25)%20and%20Dacorum%20(65.2%25)" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">ons.gov.uk/economy/enviro…

Using the headline industry approach, we estimate that there were 652,100 full-time equivalents (FTEs) employed in UK green jobs in 2024, an increase of 27.8% from 510,100 FTEs in 2015, the earliest year with comparable figures. Read more➡️ ons.gov.uk/economy/enviro…