Although rates of expansion in business activity and new orders both eased, the rate of job creation was the strongest since prior to the global financial crisis. Higher staff costs led to a faster pace of input price inflation, while companies continued to raise their output prices modestly. Service providers remained confident that activity will rise over the coming year, despite sentiment easing.

The headline seasonally adjusted Business Activity Index posted 56.0 in August, down from 57.6 in July and signalling the weakest rise in service sector output since January. That said, activity continued to increase at a sharp pace, with growth recorded for the forty-sixth successive month. Respondents indicated that higher new orders was the main factor leading activity to rise.