The ONS’s shortcomings are far from trivial, its bad maths is holding back the UK economy, writes Paul Ormerod

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has come in for a lot of criticism for the accuracy of its labour market data. More specifically, its estimates of how many people there are in employment have become less reliable.

In essence, the ONS has relied for many years on a survey which it carries out across households. The problem is that response rates to the survey have fallen rather dramatically.

These seem to be points only of interest to nerds. But they have very important practical implications.

Why is the ONS important?

Labour market data is one of the things the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) monitors closely, for example, when deciding the level of interest rates. The MPC believes changes in employment are a........

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