The UK’s economic recovery has been hampered this month by a shortage of staff and supply, according to the latest IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).
As a result, August’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) represented a six-month low of 55.3, down from 59.2 in July.
While a score above 50 indicates growth, the staff and supply shortfalls appear to be causing the post-pandemic recovery to lose momentum. Businesses had been finding it difficult to maintain staffing levels due to self-isolation requirements for contacts of people with coronavirus (COVID-19), a situation that was having such a major impact that it was given a nickname of ‘the Pingdemic’. However, self-isolation rules were dropped from 13 August for people who have been fully vaccinated.
An economist at IHS Markit, Chris Williamson, said: ‘Despite COVID-19 containment measures easing to the lowest since the pandemic began, rising virus case numbers are deterring many forms of spending, notably by consumers, and have hit growth via worsening staff and supply shortages.
‘Supplier delays have risen to a degree exceeded only once before – in the initial months of the pandemic – and the number of companies reporting that output had fallen due to staff or materials shortages has risen far above anything ever seen previously in more than 20 years of survey history.’