Producing Monthly Estimates of Unemployment and Employment According to the International Labour Office Definition

Monthly unemployment statistics are available in Britain from a monthly count of the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits. There has been considerable debate on the appropriateness of this measure. Unemployment and employment statistics are available quarterly from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), using International Labour Office (ILO) definitions. In this paper various options for producing monthly unemployment estimates according to the ILO definition are examined. Methods considered are a monthly LFS, calculating rolling averages from the quarterly LFS, and methods which combine LFS and claimant count data. It is proposed that a monthly LFS of 60 000 households be introduced which can produce monthly estimates of total unemployment and more detailed estimates quarterly. Such a survey would also fill an important gap by providing monthly employment statistics which are needed to provide a complete picture of the labour market.