Coronavirus: Faster economic indicators and Financial resilience of households

The ONS has today published its first new, weekly release containing data and experimental indicators about the condition of the UK society and economy and the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Some of the metrics contained in the publication will become regular releases and today’s publication contains two new indicators, on business impacts and online price changes for high-demand products.

Initial results from the new fortnightly Business Impact of COVID-19 Survey show how for the period 9 March to 22 March 2020:

• Of those 3,642 businesses who responded, 45% reported turnover that was ‘lower than expected’
• Over a quarter (27%) said they were reducing staff levels in the short-term, while 5% reported recruiting staff in the short-term. Almost half (46%) of businesses who responded said that they had encouraged their staff had to work from home
• The majority of businesses reported that the prices they buy and sell at were stable, with 68% of businesses who responded reporting no change to their selling prices, and 63% reporting that the costs of buying goods and services generally stayed the same
• For those businesses who responded where importing and exporting was applicable, 57% of importers and 59% of exporters reported that trade had been affected by COVID-19

The new publication also includes experimental weekly online price indices for several high-demand products for the period 16 March to 29 March, such as long-life food, health and household hygiene products.

Initial findings from these new price data show how:

• Overall, online prices of items in the high-demand products basket have increased by 1.1% over the period Week 1 (16 to 22 March) to Week 2 (23 to 29 March)
• Most items in the basket saw modest price changes with 13 out of the 22 items showing price changes between -1.0% and 1.0%.

The full Coronavirus, the UK economy and society, faster indicators: 2 April 2020 publication can be found here.

Separately, the ONS has released two articles based on data from the Wealth and Assets survey looking at financial resilience of households and attitudes towards financial security.

Financial resilience of households; the extent to which financial assets can cover an income shock includes new experimental statistics covering the periods April 2016 to March 2018 and shows the extent to which different types of households have sufficient savings to cover an unexpected fall in their employment income, an important component of household financial resilience.

The data show how:

• Nearly three quarters (73%) of households in Great Britain, whose household head is an employee, had sufficient financial assets to cover a 25% fall in their household employment income for a period of 3 months, in April 2016 to March 2018, with over half (54%) being able to cover a 75% fall for 3 months
• On average, households with a self-employed head were more likely to have a savings buffer; more than three quarters (76%) of self-employed households had enough financial assets to cover a 25% fall in their household employment income, and 61% could cover a 75% fall for 3 months
• Older households were most likely to be able to have enough savings to cover a fall in their household employment income; 90% of self-employed households with a head aged between 55 and State Pension age could cover a 25% fall for 3 months, compared with 57% of those aged under 35

The full article can be found here

Also released today are Early indicator estimates from the Wealth and Assets Survey: attitudes towards financial security, April 2018 to September 2019, which can be found here.

COVID-19 and the production of statistics

The Office for National Statistics produces data and statistics to support decision-makers in the UK and our trusted, impartial information is more important now than ever. 

Our statement outlines how the ONS is responding to the virus and our plans to provide comprehensive information on the impact of COVID-19 on our economy, labour market, population and society.

Details of all of the statistics and analysis the ONS is producing on the impact of COVID-19 can be found on our new web page.  

Please note the ONS has moved to publication of market sensitive releases at 07:00.  Other statistics will continue to be published at 09:30 as usual.

Follow our latest news and get an insight into the work behind the numbers by following @ONSfocus on Twitter. 

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