The latest data from the Office for National Statistics released this month suggested construction output declined in February. This wasn't surprising, given the bad weather and Carillion's collapse causing work to be paused and reducing activity. Buried in the data, however, were upward revisions to four months of stats covering July to November 2017. Data revisions are not noteworthy on their own, often occurring when additional data comes in and shifts initial estimates one way or another. However, these four revisions made last year's construction recession disappear. We had, in effect, a phantom recession.
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