Reading to be UK's fastest growing economy to 2021

Reading is forecast to be the fastest growing city/town in the UK, with 2.3% Gross Value Added (GVA) growth per year over the period 2018-2021, according to EY’s Regional Economic Forecast.

Reading is back in the lead after last year’s forecast predicted Manchester to grow at the same rate. This year’s forecast puts Manchester in second place, with forecast GVA growth of 2.2% GVA growth, and London is in third position with 2.1%.

Both Reading and the Thames Valley are expected to outpace UK average growth of 1.7% as EY’s forecast predicts slower growth across all regions and cities.

Reading’s dominant information and communications sector gives rise to its favourable outlook – the sector comprises almost a quarter of the town’s total GVA and is forecast to expand by 3.5% annually over the next three years. Information and communications will account for almost one in every three jobs created in Reading over the period to 2021, according to the forecast.

Reading’s employment outlook is 0.9% ,still outpacing the UK average of 0.5%. Richard Baker, Managing Partner at EY in the Thames Valley, said: “The pace of economic growth in Reading and the Thames Valley is expected to continue accelerating over the next three years. This reflects the strengths of the region in terms of its highly skilled workforce, the employer base ranging from world-leading corporates through to fast-growth entrepreneurs, and the region’s sectoral composition, which in the case of the information and communications sector, is expected to drive growth via higher productivity. These conditions mean Reading and the Thames Valley are expected to continue to grow faster than other areas of the UK.”

More information at ey.com/uk/economics

 The forecasts depend essentially upon three factors:

• National outlooks
• Historical trends in an area augmented by local knowledge and understanding of patterns of economic development built up over decades of expertise, and
• Fundamental economic relationships which interlink the various elements of the outlook.