Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Richard Partington Economics correspondent

ONS to spend millions on temp workers to fix ‘unusable’ UK employment data

The government statistics agency will use 148 agency staff to add to its 549-strong permanent workforce.
The government statistics agency will use 148 agency staff to add to its 549-strong permanent workforce. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

The government’s statistics agency is spending £8m to hire an army of low-paid temporary workers amid efforts to fix its “virtually unusable” data on employment in Britain.

Under pressure over the quality of its data, the Office for National Statistics last month agreed the multimillion-pound deal with the employment agency Randstad to recruit interviewers to help increase the reliability of its labour force survey (LFS).

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.