Office for National Statistics: Standards
(asked on 21st November 2024) - View Source
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the degree of accuracy of the data from the Office for National Statistics on economic inactivity.
Recent data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) is subject to significant uncertainty. LFS response rates fell from 49.3% in Q3 2013 [1] to 12.7% in Q3 2023 [2], which have led to a number of concerns about the quality of data based on the LFS.
As set out in its November 2024 Labour Market Overview [3], despite coherence challenges between LFS estimates and other data sources, the LFS continues to be the sole source of data for unemployment, economic inactivity and the self-employed. There are also a range of breakdowns that are only possible from LFS data.
The ONS is undertaking work to address these quality issues through improvements to its data collection and methodology [4]. The ONS is also continuing to develop the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) as the long-term solution for collecting labour market data [5].
While planned improvements are underway, LFS estimates remain volatile and will continue to be badged as ‘official statistics in development’ until further review. The ONS advise caution when interpreting changes in headline LFS rates and recommend using them as part of its suite of labour market indicators [6].