Official statistics in the UK are losing credibility, and the Royal Economic Society is calling for "emergency remediation."

The Royal Economic Society (RES) of the UK has warned that as the crisis deepens in the country's official statistics, academic research crucial for UK policy-making is being disrupted and public credibility is decreasing, calling for "emergency remedial action" to address this significant issue. "The gap in labor market data is preventing economists from properly analyzing UK wages, employment, inequality, and the impact of government policies," said Imran Rasul, President of the Royal Economic Society, in a statement on Tuesday. "At a time when the UK faces profound economic challenges, this is damaging both the professional field of economic research and policy-making." RES's comments add to the criticisms against the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS), whose previous issues have affected a large number of the UK's official economic indicators. Just a week ago, the statistics agency delayed the release of July UK retail sales data by two weeks, citing the need for "further data quality assurance." This has heightened concerns about the accuracy of the ONS's labor market, price, and gross domestic product data. This statistical data crisis ultimately led to an investigation of the agency and the sudden departure of ONS Director Ian Diamond in May for health reasons. Core UK government ministers and some Bank of England officials have complained that tracking economic (especially labor market) data-related problems make monetary policy more difficult. A spokesperson for the UK Office for National Statistics said, "A strategic plan has been initiated, with the new senior leadership team in place, we are closely working with key stakeholders and urgently refocusing resources on our core economic outputs." RES is calling for "emergency remedial action" to revitalize UK statistics; at the same time, the ONS is racing against time to increase the response rates for its key household surveys. The statistics agency has been developing new labor market questionnaires, but it is expected to transition to predominantly online labor market surveys later next year. This will be approximately three years after its initial temporary suspension of the Labor Force Survey estimates, leaving policymakers trying to judge the strength of the labor market increasingly frustrated. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey warned last week that the surge in official data showing a surge in inactive labor workers may be overestimated, because "it is also possible that those not participating in economic activity are more actively engaged in completing the labor force survey." The "UK official statistics crisis" is essentially a combination of quality deterioration, delayed releases, and method switches in several key economic indicators by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS): collapsing labor survey sample response rates have forced authorities to repeatedly "temporarily" patch and re-weight; individual data errors (such as inflation calibers), important monthly data being delayed, and management turmoil and financial constraints exacerbating external concerns about data credibility. The collapse of sample responses, frequent calibrations, individual data errors, and organizational resource pressure have combined to create a "trustworthiness low point" in UK official statistics. This statistical crisis has impacted academic research, fiscal and monetary policy-making, and prompted the Royal Economic Society of the UK to urgently call for "remedial action."