We’re joining in with Love Data Week 2023 and reflecting on this year’s theme of “Data: Agent of Change”. The idea of data being instrumental in enacting change was thoroughly explored at our recent Labour Force Survey and Annual Population Conference on 2 February 2023 (LFS/APS).
The online conference featured a keynote address on inequality, redistribution and wage progression from Richard Blundell, Ricardo Professor of Political Economy at University College London and Co-Director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). His speech outlined the challenges and opportunities around improving pay for workers with fewer formal qualifications, the data behind the gender pay gap and geographic educational disparities.
In line with the idea of data as an agent of change, Professor Blundell concluded his analysis of Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS) data with some initial thoughts on reforming policy agenda to create “good jobs” for less qualified workers; employment that would enable people in lower-paid work or self-employment to access training and other opportunities for career progression without losing access to essential in-work benefits. The keynote address prompted a thought-provoking Q&A session. The slides and recording are available within the resources section at the foot of the LFS/APS Conference page.
The conference also saw Martina Helme and James Harris from the Office for National Statistics give updates to attendees on improvements to the LFS and APS, including a highly-anticipated change to the LFS; its innovative Adaptive Survey Design will be launched later this year.
Parallel sessions in the afternoon invited speakers from across academia and industry on numerous topics, including: occupational mobility and transitions; long-term trends within part-time work; structural dynamics in regards to disability employment gaps; the effect of Brexit on Wales; methodological innovations to do with monitoring freeports in the UK; and subjective wellbeing with focus on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conference organiser Dr Pierre Walthery, of the UK Data Service, believes socio-economic research is instrumental in finding a route out of the cost-of-living crisis: “The LFS/APS Conference brought together experts from industry, the voluntary sector and academia to talk about real problems faced by ordinary working people. The LFS and APS data available through the UK Data Service have enabled researchers to shed light on the extent of these problems and to identify routes out of economic and occupational stagnation. It’s evermore apparent that collecting high-quality data which captures the evolving world of work is crucial to improving employment-related policy.”
Our next conference will be the Health Studies User Conference at UCL on 29 June 2023. You can view the call for papers online.