In the News Teaching Activity: Economic Growth Revised Upwards (September 2023)

An upgrade in the UK’s growth rate shows the economy grew more quickly after the pandemic than previously thought. Have a go at this free teaching activity, which includes a downloadable worksheet and suggested answers.

Just a couple of weeks ago in August, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) announced that UK grew by 0.2% in the second quarter of 2023. This was faster than many economists had anticipated, but the UK’s GDP was still below its pre-pandemic recession level in Q4 2023, it said.

However, since then the ONS has revised its previous growth estimates and the news on economic growth is more encouraging. The economic recovery after COVID in 2021 was much stronger than previously thought and the UK ‘s GDP has, in fact, already surpassed its pre-pandemic level.

UK economy made stronger recovery during Covid (BBC News)

Read the article and then answer the following questions.

1. What is economic growth?
2. The percentage change in real GDP is used to measure economic growth. What is real GDP?
3. Find out how economists define a recession.
4. What is an economic recovery?