Measuring the UK economy 2008: the National Statistician’s perspective

摘要

Discusses the challenge of providing timely, reliable, consistent and coherent statisticsthat meet the demanding needs of usersThe current economic conjuncture is achallenge for producers of statistics aswell as for policy makers. This articlediscusses this challenge, in particular thechallenge of providing timely, reliable,consistent and coherent statistics thatmeet the demanding needs of policymakers and other users. It also reviewsaspects of latest published statistics,following the annual Blue Book update,to illustrate the nature of the challengeand assess progress in meeting it. It is notintended as an assessment of the currentstate of the economy. Rather, it is aboutstatistical issues arising. Economic & Labour Market Review (2008) 2, 18–29; doi:10.1057/elmr.2008.135