In March 2021, England and Wales was in the middle of a period of lockdown due to the ongoing impact of the coronavirus pandemic. It was also a time when swathes of the workforce were on furlough, while many others were working from home. Today’s census results on the labour market and travel to work are reflective of this period of unparalleled and rapid change.
Read more on Understanding commuting patterns from Census 2021
GDP is a well-used metric for measuring changes in the size of economies around the world. However, it has its limitations. Richard Heys writes about the continuing developments at the ONS to go beyond GDP by including measures of the impact of growth on people, the climate and environment.
Read more on Inclusive measures of growth – How ONS is moving Beyond GDP
In times when the economy appears to be slowing, commentators will inevitably debate whether or not it is moving into ‘recession’. There is, however, no official definition of a recession and the one most commonly used has the potential to be misleading. In this post Darren Morgan reveals why in official statistics the ONS tends to avoid using the ‘r’ word.
Read more on Uncertainty and the ‘r’ word: What exactly is a ‘recession’?
The ONS-led COVID-19 Infection Survey (CIS) has been a vital source of data on the virus and its impacts, winning international recognition and several prestigious awards. Supporting the individual and combined needs of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, it has also become a leading example of collaborative working across the devolved administrations. In this post Esther Sutherland and Megan Crees show why that partnership has been central to the project’s success.
Read more on The importance of UK-wide collaboration in monitoring COVID-19
An important part of ONS’s work is to identify and provide insight into inequalities in society. One key area we are exploring is the lives of disabled people. We have recently published two new pieces of analysis looking at access to activities, products and services. Here, the ONS’s Beth Cook and Siannan Kerrigan explain more…
Read more on Make life more inclusive: understanding disabled people’s access to activities, products and services