Thread by @BenChu_

Interesting and wise column, as always, by @sarahoconnor_ on public reception of economic statistics.

Sarah notes the finding by a recent @ESCoEorg focus group that people were surprised to learn people are classified as employed if they do just one hour of work a week...

https://twitter.com/sarahoconnor_/status/1336238954388000769

...With one participant saying: "Half an hour a day and Fridays off. To me that means unemployed".

Important to note, I feel, that the UK Labour Force Survey suggests people working such low hours are pretty rare....

...Only 1.2% of employed people were working less than 6 hours a week this summer...

ons.gov.uk/employmentandl…

...And the median number of hours worked a week is around 37 hours according to the ONS's Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings...: ons.gov.uk/employmentandl…

...And there's no evidence that the number of people working very few hours a week has grown in recent decades...

...I agree it's vital to listen to public perceptions about the economy rather than just bombard them with data and analysis.

And when it comes to the labour market, it's vital to listen to concerns about pay and job security rather than just focus on headline employment...

....There's a huge amount for economic communicators to learn from the @ESCoEorg study...

escoe-website.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/upl…

...But the particular idea there's lots of people doing only a couple of hours a week who are being classified as "employed" (which one does hear from time to time) seems to me a conception that should, first and foremost, be challenged, rather than taken on board.