The ONS Economic Forum will accompany our quarterly release of the Economic Review which presents some of the latest economic statistics and analysis. We would also like to welcome Hannah Slaughter (Resolution Foundation) who will be presenting on COVID impacts on the labour market.

At the forum you will hear about the following analyses:

Analysis using BICS data: Understanding the business impacts of local and national restrictions - When we consider the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the economy, it is important to also understand how this varies by location. Restrictions and lockdown measures often differ between countries within the UK and regions within England. To help identify sub-national impacts, this analysis of single site businesses currently provides our best estimate of regional and local authority business insights and impact from BICS.

Understanding International Comparisons of GDP – There has been much coverage on the UK’s relative economic performance in response to the pandemic. We explore some of the reasons for the relative position of the UK, focusing on the structural compositions of these economies and the measurement of government output by National Statistical Institutes.

Analysis of retail sales in 2020 and financial card transactions analysis – We will be looking at the impact on retail of the coronavirus pandemic, including the changes in the way people shop (i.e. a shift to online) the effect of national lockdowns and a look at the spending patterns during the Christmas period in 2020 compared to previous years. The analysis presented will be based on UK retail sales index data and financial card transaction data.

Grant Fitzner Chief Economist of the Office for National Statistics will be providing a presentation on an "Overview on the state of the UK economy".

Please be aware that once your registration is confirmed, we will forward a link onto you to access the webinar 24 hours before the event