UK stats office sees switch to improved jobs market survey in November 2027

LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Britain's statistics office said on Tuesday that November 2027 was the most likely date for switching its flagship gauge of the labour market to a new improved survey, replacing a dataset that has been plagued with problems.

A recent assessment showed it was too soon to start a transition to the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) and it was also too early to publish "research outputs", the Office for National Statistics said.

The existing Labour Force Survey (LFS) suffered from a big fall in response rates during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been criticised by the Bank of England and private sector economists for failing to give a reliable picture of the jobs market.

"July 2027 will be an important decision point when, if we and our users are ready, we will start the process for a November 2027 transition to the TLFS," the ONS said.

"This remains the most likely path and balances a data-led approach with the increasing costs and quality implications of continuing the dual run of the TLFS and LFS (Labour Force Survey)."

Although responses climbed back to around pre-pandemic levels in recent months, the ONS said in June an operational error had caused fresh problems.

Improvements include shorter completion times for people taking part in the survey as well as a doubling of a voucher incentive for participants to £20 ($27).

The ONS said it would publish a detailed transition plan in the first quarter of 2027.

It said previously that the TLFS would become the main measure for labour market statistics at some point in 2027, having originally pointed to November 2026 as a possible earliest start date for the transition.

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(Writing by William Schomberg, editing by Andy Bruce)