Economy

Using the power of linked data to understand factors preventing people from working

Crowds of people walking through a busy street

Nearly 9 million working-age people in the UK were not working or looking for work – that is, economically inactive – from May to July 2023. This figure includes more than 2.5 million people inactive due to long-term sickness, an increase of half-a-million people since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Emma Rourke explains how linked, population-level data can improve our understanding of the interplay between health and work, with the goal of improving the wellbeing of individuals and the economy.

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What is the meaning of life?  Measuring National well-being in the UK

A group of people looking happy, they have their arms around each other and are in a park type setting with sunlight behind them

This week, ONS has published a range of data on what people tell us matters most to them when it comes to living a good and meaningful life.  Here Tim Vizard looks at what we’ve discovered, why it is important and our plans to continue exploring beyond purely economic measures to get a fuller picture of how our society is doing.

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Improving our estimate of businesses’ outgoings during the COVID-19 pandemic

Image of the City of London

The ONS has published updated and indicative estimates of GDP, which show that the economy was larger than we previously thought in 2020 and 2021, though our estimate for the UK’s monthly and quarterly economic trends is broadly unchanged. Craig McLaren explains what’s led to this brighter picture.   

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International Development: Growing a Global Statistical System

Global issues, such as climate change, population growth and inflation to name a few, are best understood with the benefit of good global statistics. So, to that end, the ONS works in partnership with a number of countries worldwide with the ultimate aim of raising the world’s statistical capabilities.  

In the latest episode of Statistically Speaking, podcast host Miles Fletcher chats to the head of the Ghanaian Statistical Service, Professor Samuel Annim; Emily Poskett, Head of International Development at the ONS; and Tim Harris of the ONS Data Science Campus’s international development team, about what international partnerships are achieving.  

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