Yorkshire economy the UK's fastest-growing

THE growth of the private sector economy in Yorkshire and Humber was faster than anywhere else in the UK last month, according to new research.

The PMI said there had been a strong recovery in this region with output and new business increased at a faster rate.

A number of companies took on staff as workloads increased while input cost inflation slowed to the weakest since January.

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July's headline Business Activity Index – which measures the combined output of the region's manufacturing and service sectors – posted 57.1, a marginal improvement on June's 56.6.

The region has now seen 14 successive months of growth and July's expansion was the fastest of all UK regions.

There was also marked rise in incoming new business, which was also the strongest in the UK during July, and reports of higher investment from clients, with demand supported by increased promotional and marketing work.

Anecdotal evidence suggested that domestic customers were the primary source of new business growth.

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Firms here increased their number of staff for the third time in the past four months and the rate of growth was solid and faster than the UK average.

Backlogs of work were down very slightly for the second month running.

Higher global demand for commodities pushed up raw material prices during July. Although average input costs rose markedly, the rate of inflation weakened further from May's recent peak to a six-month low.

Companies largely did not pass on their higher operating costs to clients as they battled strong competition.

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Patrick Bowes, chief economist at Yorkshire Forward, said: "The pace of recovery in private sector employment intentions is very welcome and is further evidence that improving capacity utilisation is having a positive impact on the jobs market."

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