Increasing economic inactivity in the UK, because Covid is authentic, says ONS chief

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An increase in economic inactivity in the UK, because the pandemic is not an illusion created by defective data, said the head of the Office for National Statistics, in its first public defense of the management of deep problems with a key survey.

Sir Ian Diamond, the national statisticist of the United Kingdom, told the MPs on Tuesday that the ONS was “very confident” in the official data showing a Covid growth of 2.8 MN, neither at work, nor looking for a job led by health.

Decision factors are unable to place any weights on figures based on OnsCurrently, the survey on the labor force due to the fact that a marked decrease in response rates, which led to prejudices in results, has done it.

The ministers have previously seen the increase of inactivity – unique to the UK among developed economies – as an essential constraint of economic growth and a factor that supplies inflation.

But independent research had he doubts Regarding the findings, and the Bank of England said that it is no longer convinced that there has been an increase in general inactivity since the beginning of 2020.

Diamond said that, despite the problems with the survey, he was confident in the general tendency, which was in acc disadvantaged.

“Please, please, please do not think I am satisfied. I wake up the night worried about this time, “he said for the Commons Chamber Treasury Committee.

Diamond’s role in the breakdown of the Labor Market data in the UK has undergone a strong control, following an internal review by the ons that drew attention to a Lack of strategic leadership and an internal culture that made the lower level staff be reluctant to raise concerns.

Diamond, in the post of 2019, told the parliamentarians that the decrease of the RFS response rates was a long -term concern, which ONS was “very, very careful.” But he said that he became aware of the fragility of the survey only in October 2023, when his agency suddenly pulled the publication that were clearly implausible.