Manchester economy sends out mixed messages
GREATER Manchester’s economy remains in an uncertain position, with the number of corporate transactions sliding, jobseekers on the rise and and a further fall in house prices, according to the latest Manchester Monitor.
The monitor, produced by the strategic body responsible for promoting growth in the city-region, New Economy Manchester, argued that these negative statistics were offset slightly by a rise in the number of vacant posts and reported rise in passenger numbers at the airport.
Its figures for the year to March 2011 show that hotel occupancy dropped by 1.7%, but this was blamed on the fact that Easter fell later in April in 2011. This also had a knockp-on effect on footfall in the city’s stores.
Dr Alexander Roy, head of research at New Economy, said: “The increase in job vacancies is encouraging but it must be taken into consideration that there is also a rise in jobseekers this month. As always, we’re urging the local business community and our stakeholders to proceed with a certain degree of caution.
Baron Frankal, director of economic strategy at New Economy, said: “June’s monitor shows another mixed message for 2011. However, it’s still widely recognised that the economy is going through an extremely uncertain period and the stats show increasingly compelling circumstantial evidence that any economic recovery is stalling.
“As we’ve seen reports in the news today, there are calls for the newly created LEPs in places like Greater Manchester to be given more financial power to drive economic growth – suggesting that there is a consensus to gain a tighter grip of the economy.”
