La ripresa del settore privato nel Regno Unito accelera a febbraio, secondo il PMI

>British firms boosted output at the fastest pace in almost two years, according to a closely watched survey suggesting the bounce-back at the start of 2026 is gaining ground.

>S&P Global’s purchasing managers’ index rose to 53.9, up from 53.7 in January and above the 53.2 expected by economists, according to flash estimates published Friday. The gauge reached its highest level since April 2024.

More bad news for Rachel Reeves. Borrowing lower than thought and retail sales higher than expected in January and now stronger than expected business activity in February. 

This is good. I think hiring needed to become more expensive overall to drive up productivity in the UK (bringing it to OECD average), which is what we’re seeing from multiple reports, as business churn increases. Of course that means unemployment is going to rise pretty sharply this year along with inflation probably decreasing moderately. The government needs to do more to help the unemployed now, or we risk completely depressing demand and stifling the benefits of increased productivity.

While this is good news, this good economic news needs to ‘felt’ by ordinary people or crowing about positive macro economic indicators can be interpreted as ‘out of touch’ while people are still struggling with their bills.

People are really hurting financially out there and government needs to show empathy for this. Macro economic indicators can indicate signs of an improving economy but until people have a little bit of cash leftover after paying the bills, it will all just look like meaningless percentage points in a spreadsheet that doesn’t trickle down to ordinary people.

I said it already in r/GoodNewsUK, but the UK has had a tidal wave of positive economic data recently, which does pose well for the future. 

Private sector growth is at a record high, retail sales are rising dramatically, productivity has grown more than in the last 7 years combined, household debt is at a 2 decade low and is one of the lowest in the developed world, the economically inactive rate is plummeting for the first time since COVID, and there has been a surge in new British companies being founded.