Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators: 27 June 2024

• Overall retail footfall increased by 2% in the week to 23 June 2024 when compared with the previous week but was 1% lower when compared with the equivalent week of 2023 (MRI OnLocation). Section 3: Consumer behaviour.

• The annual growth in automotive fuel prices was 3% in the week to 16 June 2024, remaining broadly unchanged when compared with the previous week (Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero). Section 3: Consumer behaviour.

• The total number of online job adverts on 21 June 2024 decreased by 1% from the level in the previous week and was 20% below the level in the equivalent period of 2023 (Adzuna). Section 4: Business and workforce.

• In the week to 23 June 2024, the System Price of electricity increased by 15% compared with the previous week from a seven-day average price of 7.242 pence per kilowatt hour to 8.351 pence per kilowatt hour; meanwhile, the System Average Price (SAP) of gas decreased by 1% from 2.840 pence per kilowatt hour to 2.821 pence per kilowatt hour (Elexon, National Gas Transmission). Section 5: Energy

• In the week to 23 June 2024, the daily average number of UK flights remained broadly unchanged when compared with the previous week but was 4% higher than the equivalent week of 2023 (EUROCONTROL). Section 6: Transport.

Dataviz

Notes

1. Card spending over time is pushed upwards by the impacts of both inflation on value of transactions and cash-to-card conversion.
2. Revolut adjustments to user count are at an aggregate level and as such age bands may not adjust evenly.
3. Indicators with SA in the title have been seasonally adjusted.

In the week to 23 June 2024, overall retail footfall increased by 2% when compared with the previous week but was 1% below the level seen in the equivalent week of 2023.

High street footfall increased by 7% when compared with the previous week, while retail park and shopping centre footfall both decreased by 3%. High street footfall remained broadly unchanged when compared with the equivalent week in 2023, but shopping centre footfall fell by 3%, and retail park footfall fell by 1%.

Overall retail footfall increased in 8 of the 12 UK countries and English regions and remained broadly unchanged in the remaining 4, when compared with the previous week. The largest increases were seen in London, Wales and the East of England, all rising by 4%, followed by the North East of England at 3%.

When compared with the equivalent week of 2023, 10 of the 12 UK countries and English regions saw a decrease in overall retail footfall. The largest decrease was seen in Wales, which fell to 8% below the level seen in the equivalent week of 2023, followed by the North East of England, which fell by 6%.

Automotive fuel spending

The annual growth rate in the estimated demand for fuel per transaction was 0% in the week to 16 June 2024. When compared with the previous week, this was an increase of 2 percentage points, but was 6 percentage points lower than in the equivalent week of 2023.  

The annual growth rate in average fuel prices was 3% in the week to 16 June 2024. This was broadly unchanged when compared with the previous week and was 26 percentage points higher than in the equivalent week of 2023.

Our accompanying Automotive fuel spending dataset is available.

Online job adverts

Figure 2: In the latest week, the total number of online job adverts decreased by 1% when compared with the previous week, but was 20% lower than in the equivalent period of 2023

Volume of online job adverts, non-seasonally adjusted, UK, 7 February 2018 to 21 June 2024

Notes

1. These estimates of online job adverts are provided by Adzuna, an online job search engine and are an indicator for the demand of labour. 

2. Week-on-week changes in online job advert volumes are outlined as percentages, rather than as percentage-point changes. Percentage-change figures quoted in the commentary will therefore not necessarily match the percentage-point changes observed in the chart and in our Online job advert estimates dataset. 

3. Further category breakdowns are available in our Online job advert estimates dataset, and more details on the methodology are in our Using Adzuna data to derive an indicator of weekly vacancies: Experimental Statistics methodology.

The total number of online job adverts on 21 June 2024 decreased by 1% when compared with the previous week.

For the same period, online job adverts decreased in 8, increased in 1 and remained broadly unchanged in 3 of the 12 UK countries and English regions. The South West and East Midlands regions showed the largest week-on-week decreases, both falling by 2%, while the only increase was in the East of England, rising by 2%.

The total number of online job adverts was 20% lower, when compared with the equivalent period of 2023, with all UK countries and English regions having fewer adverts. The largest year-on-year decline was in Scotland, which was 32% lower than a year ago.

The total number of online job adverts was lower in 24 of the 28 job categories, when compared with the equivalent period of 2023. The categories with the largest decreases were "Construction and trades" and "Admin, clerical and secretarial", which fell by 56% and 52%, respectively.

Our accompanying Online job advert estimates dataset is available.

Business impact and insights

Wave 111 of our Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) asked businesses if they had invested in plant and machinery between April and June 2024. Initial results were collected from 17 June to 25 June 2024, with a response rate of 24.6% (9,586 responses). Table 1 shows the initial results, which are provisional and subject to change.

System Average Price of gas 

In the week to 23 June 2024, the System Average Price (SAP) of gas decreased by 1% when compared with the previous week, from a seven-day average price of 2.840 pence per kilowatt hour to 2.821 pence per kilowatt hour. This was 7% lower than the equivalent week of 2023, which had a seven-day average price of 3.021 pence per kilowatt hour.

Our accompanying System Average Price of gas dataset is available.

System Price of electricity

In the week to 23 June 2024, the System Price of electricity increased by 15% compared with the previous week, from a seven-day average price of 7.242 pence per kilowatt hour to 8.351 pence per kilowatt hour. This is now 14% lower than the equivalent week of 2023, which had a seven-day average price of 9.698 pence per kilowatt hour.

Our accompanying System Price of electricity dataset is available.

Daily UK flights

In the week to 23 June 2024, the daily average number of UK flights remained broadly unchanged when compared with the previous week. This was 4% higher than the equivalent week of 2023.

Our accompanying Daily UK flights dataset is available.

This section lists a selection of the data available in this publication. For the full list of available datasets, please see our accompanying dataset page.

Real-time indicator

A real-time indicator provides insights into economic activity using close-to-real-time big data, administrative data sources, rapid response surveys or experimental estimates, which represent useful economic and social concepts.

Seasonal Adjustment

Seasonal adjustment is the identification and removal of consistent and systematic variation in time series that is associated with the time of year. For more information on seasonal variation, and how we implement seasonal adjustment, see Section 2: How we measure real-time indicators of our Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators methodology article.

Official statistics in development

These statistics are labelled as "official statistics in development". Until September 2023, these were called "experimental statistics". Read more about the change in our Guide to official statistics in development.

We are developing how we collect and produce the data to improve the quality of these statistics. Find out morein our Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators methodology article.

Once the developments are complete, we will review the statistics with the Statistics Head of Profession. We will decide if the statistics are of sufficient quality and value to be published as official statistics, or if further development is needed. Production may be stopped if they are not of sufficient quality or value. Users will be informed of the outcome and any changes.

We value your feedback on these statistics. If you would like to get in touch, please email realtime.indicators@ons.gov.uk.

Dataset release dates and intended release frequency

Latest release dates and intended release frequency of our associated datasets are available in this section. Please note that there may be some change to the intended release frequency for a variety of reasons, such as data availability. If you would like further information about any of these datasets, or previous release dates, please email realtime.indicators@ons.gov.uk.

Weekly data release

• The UK spending on credit and debit cards dataset was last updated on 16 May 2024.

• The Revolut spending on debit cards dataset was last updated on 1 February 2024.

• The Automotive Fuel spending dataset was last updated on 27 June 2024.

• The Online job advert estimates dataset was last updated on 27 June 2024.

• The Company incorporations, voluntary dissolutions and compulsory dissolutions dataset was last updated on 27 June 2024.

• The Advanced notification of potential redundancies dataset was last updated on 20 June 2024.

• The System Average price of gas dataset was last updated on 27 June 2024.

• The System Price of electricity dataset was last updated on 27 June 2024.

• The Traffic camera activity dataset was last updated on 20 June 2024.

• The Weekly shipping indicators dataset was last updated on 5 April 2024.

• The Daily UK flights dataset was last updated on 27 June 2024.

Fortnightly data release

• The Transactions at Pret A Manger dataset was last updated on 13 June 2024.

Monthly data release

• The Monthly Direct Debit failure rate and average transaction amount dataset was last updated on 13 June 2024.

• The Value Added Tax, flash estimates dataset was last updated on 18 April 2024.

• The Renter affordability for new tenancies dataset was last updated on 6 June 2024.

• The Sales and jobs in small businesses dataset was last updated on 2 May 2024.

These statistics have been produced to provide timely indicators of the effect of developing world events on the UK economy and society, using close-to-real-time big data, administrative data sources, rapid response surveys, or official statistics in development.

The data presented in this bulletin are reviewed and refreshed on a regular basis. Indicators are swapped in and out of the publication based on their suitability and availability.

Seasonality

Seasonal fluctuations are likely to be present in many of these indicators, so caution must be applied when interpreting changes in series that are not seasonally adjusted.