The head of the UK's statistics body has blamed video doorbells and gated communities for adding to problems with jobs figures. Sir Ian Diamond said the Office for National Statistics (ONS) needs more funding to overcome the issues - which have been causing major problems for the government and Bank of England.
Of course, though it's hard to see how, since they merely forwarn us of visitors we might want to not talk to...
Economists have been increasingly reluctant to put weight on the Labour Force Survey since the pandemic, with response rates plunging.The employment, wages and inactivity data are used by Threadneedle Street to help set interest rates, as well as by government. Last year the Resolution Foundation think-tank claimed nearly one million workers in Britain's jobs market have been 'lost', suggesting the rate of UK unemployment and inactivity could be overstated.
Now, I'm an ex-training team lead, and I know the value of feedback - I always rate attractions and establishments I’ve visited on GoogleMaps or other apps and recently, when I was up in Edinburgh for my birthday, I made one depressed-looking research chap’s morning in the St James Quarter shopping mall, when he tentatively approched (no doubt expecting to be told where to go) and asked if I’d answer a few questions.
As I was just killing time I said I’d be happpy to, and the poor chap nearly dropped his clipboard in surprise!
But these people? No. If they come knocking, they will get short shrift.
Giving evidence to the Treasury Select Committee, Sir Ian said it was taking twice the level of effort to get interviews compared with pre-pandemic. He said that the ONS switched to phone interviewing during Covid, and since then it has found people have not returned to being 'happy about coming into their houses to spend 45 minutes interviewing them'.
'We're finding very, very, very high levels of flat refusal,' he said. Sir Ian said people were simply 'busy' in many places, before identifying other reasons. 'Our interviewers are finding it harder in some of the more advantaged areas where there are increasing gated communities, where you can't get in,' he said. 'Some of the flat refusals come because of Ring doorbells which enable people to say… these are things that are happening to us day by day.'
The doorbells are just an excuse - the truth is people no longer want to talk to you. Why should they? They get nothing for their time. Not even the satisfaction that they've been listened to.
The public body also needs better data sharing between Government departments to support its work, he said, adding that fewer people now have landlines and that a directory of people's emails would help it reach more respondents.
So they want to harvest emails given to other government departments for other reasons, all so they can go straight into the 'spam email' folder?
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