Money
Why Britain's jobs figures do not always agree
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Britain is checking its jobs count against payroll records. Early results suggest the post-pandemic recovery was stronger than its main survey showed, partly because of who answered it.
0.8 percentage pointsHigher early-2024 employment estimate in the test
The facts
- 1The Office for National Statistics linked its household jobs survey with payroll records held by the tax authority.
- 2Who answers matters. If people in work respond differently from those out of work, the survey can give a skewed picture.
- 3In early 2024, the test put Great Britain's employment rate 0.8 percentage points above the published estimate.
- 4The effect changed over time: the test lowered estimates at the pandemic's peak, raised them in 2022 to 2024, and changed little during 2025.
- 5The official figures remain unchanged. More testing is needed, and this experiment does not establish the true level of employment.
Why it matters
Who answers a survey can shape the headline you read. Comparing survey and payroll evidence helps explain why official measures sometimes point in different directions.
Sources
- Office for National Statistics: Building a clearer picture of the labour market by integrating survey and administrative data · Liz McKeown and Daniel Ayoubkhani · Source license
