UK statisticians trim scale of worker drop-out problem
2024.12.03 02:49
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s problem with people leaving the labour market was a little bit less acute than previously thought, the country’s statistics agency said on Tuesday as it adjusted its calculations based on new population estimates.
The inactivity rate – which measures people not in work and who are not looking for it – was estimated at 22.1% in the April-to-June period, compared with a previous estimate of 22.2%, the Office for National Statistics said.
The ONS has struggled to reach respondents for its surveys since the COVID pandemic and is overhauling the way it measures the labour market.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said last week that the lack of a clear picture on employment was “a substantial problem”.
The BoE is closely monitoring Britain’s labour market as it considers how much inflationary pressure remains in the economy and when to cut interest rates again after reducing borrowing costs twice this year.
The ONS also published new estimates for Britain’s employment and unemployment rates.
The re-weighted employment rate was estimated at 74.6% in the new data, versus 74.5% previously, while the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2%.
In October 2023, the ONS temporarily suspended publication of official LFS data due to low response rates in the aftermath of the pandemic, and began releasing experimental estimates that relied on tax and other data sources.
It said on Tuesday that it will provide a more detailed evaluation in early 2025 about when it will start to use its new Transformed LFS as its main source of labour market data.
