Paul's message gives good explanations.
> I actually think the ILO definitions are the best we have, despite
> difficulties, because they are reasonably close to economic behaviour.
But the ONS Press Release does not say that the ONS believes that ILO
definitions are the best we have. Nor does it say that the ONS believes
that the LFS provides the best estimates of employment and unemployment.
It just states that employment and unemployment ARE as measured by LFS
statistics.
Maybe I've become a stickler after reading 'Eats, Shoots, & Leaves'. I
thought that Lewis Carroll had long ago disposed of the idea that the
meaning of a word is what the author says it means. But this lesson from
cultural history seems to have escaped the ONS.
A few years ago the ONS declared that the word unemployment should be used
only to refer to unemployment as measured by ILO criteria. More recently
the ONS have declared that the term UK unemployment should be used instead
of ILO unemployment. And the ONS keeps on going on about 'the headline
figure' as if they want to take over the power of writing headlines from
newspaper editors.
What is the point of this brainwashing? I suspect the target audience is
ONS staff themselves and other civil servants. The ONS don't want their
staff or anyone else in the civil service even to think about the
complexities of the real world.
The problem may be is that this brainwashing is largely effective. If so
government statisticians turn themselves into 'cheerful robots', to use
Wright-Mills classic phrase, who cannot distinguish between their success
and the morality of their actions.
Ray Thomas
35 Passmore, Tinkers Bridge, Milton Keynes MK6 3DY
Email: [log in to unmask]
Tel/Fax 01908 679081
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