§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to produce employment and unemployment statistics which can be directly compared with those of the UK's EU partners. [34185]
§ Mrs. LiddellThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Barry Sheerman, dated 12 March 1998:
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question on producing employment and unemployment statistics which can be directly compared with those of the UK's EU partners.The ONS recently announced major improvements to UK labour market statistics. In recognition of the increasing complexity of the labour market in the United Kingdom, the new ONS presentation will focus on employment, unemployment and inactivity (out of work but not unemployed) as being equally important in describing the changing labour market.From April 1998, the ONS's assessment will give more weight to the Labour Force Survey, which in future will be published twelve times a year for an average of each three month period. Existing internationally agreed definitions as recommended by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) will continue to be used. Each EU member state is required to carry out a Labour Force Survey on the ILO definitions and the survey results can therefore be directly compared.A new regulation is due to be adopted by the EU Council of Ministers that will lead to improved harmonisation of employment and unemployment statistics across EU countries on the basis of quarterly Labour Force Surveys.