ONS to hold economic forum on labour market data and job-flow statistics

The forum opens at 9:30am and includes three sessions: one on the state of the UK economy, one on labour market transformation, and one examining what the ONS calls linked employer-employee data — known as LEED — which connects individual workers with their employers to support analysis of how people move through the labour market over time.

The LEED-based release looks set to cover hires, separations and job-to-job moves between 2014 and 2026. But the ONS has been explicit that these figures are experimental and subject to further quality assurance — they should not be treated as final until that process is complete.

The backdrop matters. The figures show that 1.712 million people aged 16 and over were unemployed in June to August 2026, an unemployment rate of 4.7 per cent. The economic inactivity rate for those aged 16 to 64 stood at 20.9 per cent — 9.091 million people — compared with a South East regional rate of 18.4 per cent for April to June 2026.

Total UK employment reached 34.577 million over the same period, an employment rate of 75.3 per cent for those aged 16 to 64.

Conventional headline measures capture a snapshot. What the ONS says LEED can add is a longitudinal picture — tracking the same workers across time to show whether job moves happen within industries or between them, and how quickly people cycle in and out of payrolled employment. That kind of granularity isn’t available from standard quarterly surveys.

The planned experimental labour market flows statistics are provisionally due for publication in late 2026. Until the ONS completes its quality assurance work, any figures released at or after the forum should be read with that caveat in mind.

Key information

• ONS Economic Forum date: 23 November 2026, 9:30am
• LEED data coverage: hires, separations and job-to-job moves, 2014 to 2026 — experimental and subject to further quality assurance
• Registration details: available via the ONS website