Why we must be positive

The recent unemployment figures that showed a rise to 2.4m took the wind out of the sails of many of those that were starting to talk about green shoots of recovery.

It is true that the data - an increase of 220,000 to reach 2.4m in the quarter to June, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics did not make good reading.

And the smart money is on the unemployment rate continuing to rise, a scary thought when you consider that the number of people out of work is now at its highest level since 1995.

However, unemployment has historically lagged behind economic recovery, so even if as predicted the next figures are even worse, it does not mean that the economy is still in terrible shape.

The number of good business news stories has been increasing with each passing week. True, these news items often show a slowdown in decline as opposed to growth, but they are indicating that the economy is starting to head in the right direction.

Last week saw many positive news items. For instance, that home buyer enquiries and price expectations rose to their highest level since April 2007, that retail sales in the UK rose by 1.8% in July compared to the same month last year and that the rate of decline in the UK job market is slowing.

It would be foolish in the extreme to say that times are not still hard, and that no further poor economic figures will be released. But perhaps it is time for small businesses owners to start to believe that better times are just around the corner.



Post Date: August 17th, 2009