It’s just all doom and gloom at the moment, isn’t it? It feels like reading the financial section at the moment should come with a mental health warning: “may cause uncontrollable feelings of impending doom”. Heck, even this blog gets pretty depressing at times.
Image by katerha
Sorry about that. But is it really that bad? Only this morning, BBC reporter Steph McGovern visited British based shoe makers Hotter Shoes to show that there are indeed some small green shoots in the UK economy.
Things are looking pretty rosy for Hotter Shoes. It has opened 20 stores in the past 18 months, which has created around 200 jobs across the country. It also has a widely expanding online business selling comfortable shoes and has successfully expanded into the American market.
It was announced just this afternoon that Intercontinental Hotels, who own the Holiday Inn and Crown Plaza brands, will create 3,000 jobs in the UK over the next three years. They are just the latest in a long line of brands taking on new staff: both McDonalds and Subway have revealed that they will also be increasing their headcount.
Business spending and retail growth
According to the BBC, 38.5% of businesses intend to raise their marketing budgets this year, compared to 2014 where there was no planned net increase in spend.
And there’s good news for retailers too: last week, it was revealed that retail sales rose in January compared to December, which is a much stronger figure than what economists were expecting.
So put that nervous breakdown on hold - yes, the economy may be in a pretty bad way, but it looks like there are little glimmers of hope beginning to creep through the cracks.
Do you think the economy is beginning to recover? Or is your personal situation still in a bad way? Let us know what you think in the comments section below!
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February 22, 2023
business