GDP Timeline

1973 to 1975

1970s economic downturn

1973 to 1975

The 1970s oil crisis was linked to higher inflation, due to higher oil prices; this may have affected sectors such as manufacturing and distribution, making their products more expensive.

Production stalled due to weak trade and the miners' strikes, leading to a three-day working week to save the country's electricity.

Consumer spending was also down, due to high unemployment, low wages and uncertainty in the market.

People's incomeⁱ accounts for around half of the income measure of GDPⁱⁱ.

It took 3.5 years for UK GDP to recover.

1979 to 1981

This was a period of increasing inequality, high inflation and high unemployment. The Brixton and Toxteth riots happened during this period, there were also mass strikes and inflation reached double figures.

GDP could have been affected by unemployment in key sectors as well as low spending, due to high prices and a lack of income.

The government's debt was high at this point, leading to a record loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to ease this.

Unemployment was at a 50-year high in 1981. The riots left 300 buildings severely damaged. Around 5,000 people were involved in the Brixton riots.

1984

The 12-month-long miners' strike led to the closure of hundreds of collieries in the UK and high unemployment and loss of production.

As this is considered 'structural unemployment' due to the loss of highly-skilled workers in one industry, there is long-term unemployment leading to poverty and inequality.

At the height of strikes, 142,000 miners were involved.

1990 to 1991

The downturn of 1991 was linked to high interest rates, falling house prices and an overvalued exchange rate.

High interest rates led to more saving, less spending, less investment in the UK's sectors; falling house prices stalled construction in the housing sector.

1992

The UK government withdrew the pound from the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in September 1992, after attempts to prop up its value failed – it was a day known as Black Wednesday, when billions of pounds were wiped off the stock market.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth after this point is known as The Great Moderation. The UK experienced almost 16 consecutive years of economic growth between the end of the 1991 downturn and the downturn in 2008 – the longest continued expansion on record. This ended the constant cycle of boom and bust previously seen in GDP growth.

The UK Treasury estimated that Black Wednesday cost £3.3 billion.

2001

The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 caused national uncertainty and disruption to UK-US trading.

Trade and relations with areas in the middle east became more cautious. Stock markets plummeted after the attacks, and aviation came to a halt; shocks to large economies such as the US can have knock-on effects that are felt around the world.

There was a mass outbreak of foot and mouth disease, starting in February 2001, lasting for 32 weeks, which left more than 6 million cows and sheep dead and cost the farming industry more than £8 billion. It was estimated that the economic effect of the outbreak lost around 0.2% GDP.

Public sector cost of foot and mouth was around £3bn

2002

The spring bank holiday moved from May to June, with an additional June holiday added in celebration of the Golden Jubilee. This had a significant impact on the services sector in the UK.

The number of total weekly hours worked was low for the month of June as well, leading to lower output and productivity.

Production fell by 4.7% in June 2002.

2008

This was a period of financial instability, commonly referred to at the time as the 'credit crunch'.

Irresponsible lending, rising household debt, ineffective regulation, and extreme uncertainty caused a huge financial crash, resulting in firms closing, massive job losses, and therefore a huge reduction in income, production, and particularly household earnings and expenditure.

The number of people who said they were finding it difficult to get by financially doubled between 2007 and 2009, and visits abroad by UK residents fell by nearly 25% between the beginning of 2008 and the end of 2010.

GDP fell from peak to trough by 6.3%. It took more than five years for GDP to recover, and nearly 8 years for GDP per head to recover.

Redundancy levels rose by 160% to 311,949 between Jan to Mar 2008 and Feb to Apr 2009.

The number of people claiming unemployment benefits rose by 103% between Jan 2008 and Sep 2009, reaching the highest level in over 12 years.

Household expenditure fell by nearly 6%, from Jan to March 2008 to Apr to June 2009.

2012

The extra bank holidays due to the Diamond Jubilee caused uncertainty in the GDP estimate of Apr to June in 2012.

This caused productivity in the UK to fall, as people were being paid but not working. This could also have led to loss in profits for smaller companies.

The UK also experienced the wettest April to June on record, which is likely to have impacted sectors such as sales, expenditure, distribution, and agriculture.

Quarterly production, construction and services fell by -1.3%, -5.2%, and -0.1% respectively in Apr to Jun 2012.

2012

Growth was 1.1% in Jul to Sept of 2012, the highest growth for nearly seven years.

Although tourism dropped slightly in this quarter, spending rose significantly for visitors to the UK.

The UK's output, whose main components are services and production, increased by 1.5% just in July 2012. There was increased output in the food and beverage industries, accommodation, employment agencies, and creative arts and entertainment.

The sales of Olympics tickets were 'saved up' in GDP until this quarter. This amounted to around £580m (or 0.1% of GDP) and contributed 0.2 percentage points to overall growth.