UK labour supply: Economic Affairs Committee to hold first evidence session
Monday 5 September 2022
On Tuesday 6 September the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee will be taking evidence from the Office of National Statistics as part of its new inquiry on the UK’s labour supply.
At 3.30pm the committee will hear from:
- Mike Keoghan, Deputy National Statistician for Economic, Social and Environmental Statistics
- David Freeman, Head of Labour Market and Households.
The meeting will be held in Committee Room 4 of the House of Lords. It will also be streamed live on Parliament TV.
Topics the committee is likely to cover in these sessions include:
- Groups of people who have left the labour market.
- Reasons that might lie behind the reductions in labour supply.
- Whether the reductions in labour supply will be permanent or temporary.
- Reliability of data on labour supply.
- Effects of long-term sickness on the labour supply.
- Correlation between reductions in labour supply and wage growth.
- Sectors and regions most and least affected by labour shortages.
More about this inquiry
Vacancies are still at record levels and above pre-pandemic levels in all industries. The committee is seeking to understand the main causes of the reduction in the size of the labour force, and it will explore data on the types of people who have left the labour market.
The committee is also interested in what differences exist between labour market trends in the UK compared with those in other developed countries.
The committee has issued a call for written evidence. The deadline for the submissions is Friday 23 September 2022.
The committee’s work can be followed on its website and via Twitter.
