New OECD figures published today suggest the ‘productivity gap’ between the UK and other economies including France, Germany and the USA is smaller than previously thought. The latest estimates follow a re-appraisal of how each country measures the number of hours worked. The development of these improved numbers is in part down to work at ONS.
Read more on Productivity gap narrows
For months now, UK employment has been sitting at or near record highs. Naturally there has been speculation about what is driving the increase, and whether it is mainly because of people on ‘zero hours contracts.’ Jonathan Athow delves into the figures to show how we measure this important figure and what being ‘unemployed’ actually means for official statistics.
Read more on Working 9 to 5? – How we count unemployment and what the numbers show
ONS has radical plans to fundamentally update and enhance the way it calculates many of the UK’s key economic statistics. More detailed information about the dominant services sector and more data on smaller firms add up to the biggest overhaul of GDP in a generation, as Rob Kent-Smith reveals.
Read more on Transforming GDP: Economic statistics for a digital age
On any ranking, devising new trade policy for after Brexit and solving the productivity puzzle must be among the biggest economic policy challenges facing the UK. Following the latest ONS labour productivity release, Philip Wales highlights new work that shows how trade and productivity are closely related.
Read more on Two economic policy challenges walk into a bar. One says to the other: ‘Are we related?’
ONS publishes widely used estimates of household income, including how much people earn, what benefits they receive and how much they pay in taxes as well as looking at the gap between the richest and poorest households. Here Dominic Webber writes about the important work to improve the quality of these statistics and provide more detailed information on this much debated topic.
Read more on Minding the gap: how we’re improving our measurement of income inequality