All hail the IT department: the real heroes of the recession

George Osborne triumphantly hailed the end of the recession last week - and even though Labour say standards of living have been squeezed, it was still a watershed moment.

The UK economy is 0.2 per cent bigger than it was just before the crash in 2008, ending six years of gloom.

But looking at the drivers of that recovery, they perhaps don't come from the sectors we'd be expecting - well judging by the amount of times we've seen politicians in helmets in the last six years.

Heavy duty industries such as manufacturing (-7.4 per cent) and mining (-33.4 per cent) have declined in size since 2008, while office-based jobs like administration (+36.3 per cent) and IT (+44.9 per cent) have increased.

So as Ed Conway wrote in his column for the Times today: "this has been the David Brent recovery."

H/T Ed Conway