It is an exciting time in the world of inflation statistics, with several important developments due to be implemented in the coming months. Mike Hardie explains what’s changing and what it will tell us about changing prices.
Read more on How the ONS is transforming UK prices statistics
For the first time in decades inflation is a major issue again. Supply chain issues linked to the pandemic, rising fuel costs and shortages linked to the war in Ukraine have all combined to push the growth in prices to levels not seen since the early nineties. In this post Mike Hardie explains how the ONS is updating the production of UK inflation statistics to give the most detailed picture yet of how prices are changing and who they’re affecting.
Read more on Big data on cars and rail fares to power UK inflation measures
The recent rise in UK inflation has focused much attention on this important metric. But the headline inflation rate is, of course, only an average figure and doesn’t necessarily reflect the price changes experienced by different people. In this post Mike Hardie explains the challenges of measuring everyone’s cost of living – and how some important new enhancements will provide a clearer picture in future.
Read more on Measuring the changing prices and costs faced by households
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic threw up a number of challenges, including how to measure consumer price inflation. Some people asked what inflation would look like if we rebalanced the figures to take account of the different household spending patterns that lockdown brought on. Here Mike Hardie writes about how we have produced these new, rebalanced numbers and what they show.
Read more on Getting the price right: how we have developed new price measures to show how the pandemic has affected inflation