it figures

The numbers behind the noise
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Economy

2 stories
Economy

Two-Thirds of This Labour Market Number Vanished in 2021. Nobody Lost a Job.

An ONS labour market series sat almost perfectly still for nine years, then fell by 67% in a single year. The collapse isn't in the jobs market. It's in the file itself, and it should change how you read any single-year figure.

9 September 2026 · ONS
Economy

Eight Years, 392 Points: The Labour Market Figure That Barely Twitched

A decade of ONS labour market rates, summed across every age band and activity state, moved by roughly 1% between 2012 and 2019. Then the file shows a two-thirds collapse in 2021, and that collapse is the least interesting thing in it.

26 August 2026 · ONS