Planned methodological changes to the Index of Production

Sets out the reasons for these changes and their impact on the levels of detail ONS will publishIn January 2008, as part of a wider reprioritisation of the Office for National Statistics? (ONS) business, the sample size for the Monthly Production Inquiry (MPI) will be reduced by 17 per cent. Of itself, the reduced sample size would lead to lower-quality estimates of the change in production output as published in the Index of Production (IoP) First Release. However, ONS will introduce a number of methodological changes in March 2008, including a reoptimisation of the MPI sample. These changes will maintain, and in some cases improve, the quality of the aggregate IoP indices. At the same time, the level of detail published for the IoP will be reduced, providing greater focus on the aggregate series. This article sets out the reasons for the methodological changes and their impact on the levels of detail which ONS will publish. Economic & Labour Market Review (2008) 2, 30–37; doi:10.1057/elmr.2008.7