Britain’s labour-market figures are less reliable than they were

An accurate speedometerONSONSLFSLFS is a prerequisite to safe driving. So it is with monetary policy. The Bank of England has hit the economic brakes very hard since late 2021, increasing its benchmark policy rate from 0.1% in early December 2021 to 5.5% now. Although the bank paused its policy tightening at its latest meeting in September, it warned that rates may still have to rise further to reduce inflationary pressure. Policymakers fret that despite a slowing economy, the jobs market remains tight and rapid wage growth could entrench . One problem the bank faces is that core jobs-market data are now much less reliable than they once were. The speedometer may be faulty.The most important figures on the state of the British labour market are produced by the Office for National Statistics (). The uses the Labour Force Survey (), a monthly sample of tens of thousands of households that was once conducted in person but switched to telephone interviews during the lockdowns of 2020. Though still regarded by some as the gold standard of labour-market data, the is looking increasingly debased.