Bloxham: GDP to grow by 1.4%

THERE will be no improvement in employment prospects for jobless workers until mid-2011 at the earliest, according to the latest Bloxham Quarterly Economic Outlook which anticipates more redundancies in the construction, financial services and retail sectors.

And Bloxham chief economist Alan McQuaid is forecasting GDP growth of 1.4% next year and 2.5% in 2012. This is well below official growth figures contained in the National Recovery Plan 2011-14.

Mr McQuaid said the outlook for employment remains fairly downbeat in the immediate future, with the numbers on the Live Register still extremely high despite a fall in the seasonally -adjusted total signing on in the past couple of months.