ONS

How apprentices are helping to drive statistics in the pandemic

Many of the challenges caused by the pandemic are only answerable with robust and timely data. The Office for National Statistics has supported those taking on apprenticeships in areas like data science, analytics and economics throughout the pandemic to help equip the UK with these much-needed skills. As we celebrate National Apprenticeship Week Alex Lardner explains why apprenticeships are so valuable to the ONS and the country as a whole.

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Social care: Estimating the size of the self-funding population

Currently, the data on people who self-fund their care is limited. With differences in how data is collected in local authorities and by care providers, there is a significant gap in understanding how care is funded and the impact that has on the adult social care sector. Evie Brown from the ONS, along with Josefine Magnusson from Future Care Capital (FCC), explain how we’re working together to help fill this evidence gap.

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Minding the Gap: Why has UK GDP fallen so sharply in the pandemic?

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Measuring the full economic impact of Covid-19 is a key challenge for the ONS. Some have questioned why the decline we’ve identified in UK GDP is greater than that being reported by other G7economies. Rob Kent-Smith explains the differing trends and measurement practices that have led to this apparent gap.  

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Painting the full picture: what our statistics tell us about the labour market

Picture of person job hunting on a laptop

On Monday we published a short blog on the linkages between the labour market statistics and estimates of population here. But there has also been interest in how our statistics describing the labour market fit together.  Here Debra Leaker looks at the different figures the ONS publishes and the picture they paint.   

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