Following the news that we’re finally officially out of recession, albeit very weakly, with estimated growth at just 0.1% in the last quarter of 2009, is it time to sigh with relief and focus on the future?

The politicians made predictable comment, with Alistair Darling confident that “we are on a path to recovery”, George Osborne dismissive – “Let’s be clear, this is about as weak a growth as you can get ” – and Vince Cable saying, “Far from the quick recovery the Chancellor has been praying for, the economy is only just staggering back into growth,” as reported by the BBC.

With the UK the last major economy to come out of recession, Richard Lambert, head of the CBI, speaking at Thales UK earlier this week, was of the opinion that it won’t be until 2012 that the economy gets back to where it was before the crash. He warned that businesses are too focused on conserving cash, and that the private sector needs to take the lead and drive growth forward to make a robust recovery. “We should beware of anyone who suggests that happy days are here again. The country is roughly 10% poorer than it would have been if the recession had never happened.”

Mr Lambert went on to warn, “Private-sector capital is increasingly mobile, and corporate and personal tax rates are a key determinant in the decisions that are made on the location of investment.” Clearly, there are implications here for relocation, and there have been more reports this month of companies planning to leave the UK in search of better tax breaks.

Ian McCafferty, CBI chief economic adviser, said, "While the data marks the end of the longest recession in living memory, the slightly disappointing rise of only 0.1% demonstrates how fragile the recovery is. There are some signs of life for the UK consumer and manufacturing exports, but otherwise private-sector activity remains very sluggish. Even if the estimate is revised upwards in coming months, this rate of growth is lacklustre, and for many it will not feel like recovery for some time yet."

The weather has certainly brought a slow start to the year, but relocation companies seem to be back in the swing of things again now, and we detect a sense of cautious optimism, with reports that business is picking up and companies are moving staff.

The new EuRA index for UK and Irish participants, which polls members about their business results performance, were encouraging; the association reported that participants were happy with December’s results and predicted only slightly worse results in January, with June 2010 levels the same as December 2009. In Germany, where the there is a longer history of the poll, participants were expecting a better performance outlook in six months.

Another good sign for relocation and project-driven international moves is the RBS survey which revealed that UK exports rose by £723 million between the second and third quarter last year, thought to be largely boosted by the weak pound.

Domestic relocatees should also be more confident of selling their homes if the Rightmove property website survey is any indication of public confidence in the housing market for 2010. It reveals that 53% believe house prices will increase over the next 12 months, compared with only 10% at the same time last year.

Keep up to date with the recovery picture via our website at www.relocatemagazine.com, and watch out for the Spring issue of Re:locate, which includes a special feature on relocation in the next decade and Sue Shortland’s examination of the latest international assignment trends. Send your views to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .