Where is economic growth going to come from? This is the question every economic policymaker and commentator in the UK is currently asking.

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Whilst there has been an undoubtedly positive change in the labour market movement in recent months, the unemployment rate remains largely unchanged from a year ago, and amongst young people is still showing an increase.

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The shifting patterns of what things consumers want to buy, and the extent to which UK producers can meet that demand, determine how much the UK economy benefits from greater consumer spending. Today we are publishing research on this subject, highlighting several worrying trends in the UK’s ability to satisfy consumer demand.

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Design is extremely important to innovation. Often it acts as the key link between a piece of technology and the user, with good design helping exciting new inventions find a market. Design is also being used in new and exciting ways to transform how services are delivered. We were recently commissioned by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to look at the international aspects of the UK design industry, and assess whether there is any support policy can offer the industry. The results of our research are being given their first airing at an event at the Big Innovation Centre this evening.

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Today’s retail figures present a mixed picture, with significant monthly falls in some areas and rises elsewhere. But aside from arguments about the poor weather and a somewhat artificial drop in fuel consumption after Easter panic buying, it is clear over the longer term that consumers are buying less, with a fall of 1.1% in the volume of sales since April last year. How worried should we be by this?

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One feature of recent changes in the labour market is a growth in involuntary part-time and temporary workers, those working on a temporary or part-time basis when they would rather find a permanent job or full-time work.

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Today the Chancellor extended tax relief to three sections of the UK’s creative industries, animation, videogames and high-cost drama. Broadly this makes a lot of sense. As The Work Foundation have argued in the past, the creative industries have a particularly wide role in the economy, generating significant positive spillovers. We have some world-leading production capacity in these areas, but recent industrial activism in other countries such as Canada and Ireland has moved some key business abroad from the UK.

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Yesterday (5 Mar), Tesco boss Philip Clarke announced a shift in the company’s direction. After a poor fourth quarter in 2011, the heavy-hitting supermarket chain is to invest more in the quality of its fresh produce and customer service, as well as in the choice of products on offer. This is an interesting development which, if carried out on a large scale and replicated by other large retailers, may change how we view retail as a sector.

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Today’s downgrading of many vocational qualifications, removing them from school league tables, should not mask the fact many of them provide real value to students, employers and the wider economy.

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We should applaud the education secretary’s plans, announced today, to dramatically overhaul the provision of computer science education in schools.

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