Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators: 31 March 2022

• The labour market remains tight, with total online job adverts on 25 March 2022, at 135% of their February 2020 average level. Section 3.
• Potential redundancies and the numbers of employers proposing redundancies fell by 7% and 3%, respectively in the latest week. Section 3.
• In early March 2022, more than one-fifth of the UK workforce (21%) was estimated to be using a hybrid model of working, this is 6 percentage points higher than at the start of 2022.
• Both retail footfall and Pret A Manger transactions increased in the latest week; meanwhile, credit and debit card purchases and OpenTable seated diners remained at broadly similar levels to the previous week. Section 4.
• Transport indicators displayed week-on-week growth coinciding with the continued good weather conditions across the UK; this included increases in all ship visits by 5% as well as daily UK flights by 2%, with road traffic broadly similar to the previous week.
• The system average price of gas decreased by 7% in the week to 27 March 2022, with the level now 50% below that of 10 March 2022 (which was when prices peaked in the rolling 7-day series); the system average price of gas is 392% higher compared with the same period last year.

Notes:

1. The break in the available shipping data (from 14 to 19 June 2021) is when the data collection system changed.
2. OpenTable seated diners weekly comparisons were previously made with the seven-day period to each Monday. From today’s release the weekly comparison period will change to the seven-day period to each Sunday.
3. Adzuna online job adverts in the latest period are being compared from 21 to 25 March 2022; caution is advised when comparing these data as this is not the Friday-to-Friday comparison period historically used.

Self-isolation rates in the workforce by sector and for working age population by country

Data from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey (CIS) were used to provide modelled estimates of the proportion of the workforce self-isolating because of coronavirus by work sector and the proportion of the working age population self-isolating because of coronavirus by country.

In the two weeks ending 19 March 2022, the percentage of people self-isolating because of coronavirus has significantly increased in all work sectors except for the “Food production, agriculture, farming” work sector.

Figure 1: The percentage of the working-age population self-isolating because of coronavirus increased in England and Wales in the two weeks ending 19 March 2022

Estimated percentage of the working-age population (aged 17 to 69 years) self-isolating because of coronavirus (COVID-19) from 30 January to 19 March 2022, UK countries

Notes:

1. All results are provisional and subject to revision.
2. These statistics refer to self-reported self-isolation occurring in working-age adults (aged 17 to 69 years), regardless of employment status, living in private households.
3. During the period shown, self-isolation requirements were frequently updated with different changes taking place at different times across the UK countries.

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Figure 2: The sectors with the highest percentage of the workforce in self-isolation on 19 March 2022 were “arts, entertainment or recreation” and “social care”, at 3.8% and 3.6%, respectively

Estimated percentage of the workforce self-isolating because of coronavirus (COVID-19), by work sector, 23 January 2022 to 19 March 2022, UK

Notes:

1. All results are provisional and subject to revision.
2. These statistics refer to self-reported self-isolation in working adults (aged 16 years and over) living in private households.
3. In the “arts, entertainment or recreation” work sector, there is a 95% confidence interval from 2.8% to 5.3%.
4. In the “social care” work sector, there is a 95% confidence interval from 2.6% to 5.0%.

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More information on how these estimates were calculated is available in Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey estimates of the UK workforce in self-isolation by sector, published on 14 February 2022.

A breakdown of the CIS data is available in the accompanying dataset.

Business impact and insights

Initial results from Wave 53 of the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) cover the reference period 7 to 29 March 2022, with a response rate of 21.9% (8,363 responses). The survey was live for the period 21 to 29 March 2022.

Social impact of coronavirus

This section includes selected results from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) covering the period 16 to 27 March 2022. The survey went out to 4,471 adults in Great Britain and had a response rate of 69% (3,100 responses). Further information to help understand the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on people, households and communities in Great Britain is available in Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain.

Cost of living

In the period 16 to 27 March 2022, 87% of adults reported their cost of living had increased over the last month. This was up 4 percentage points from 83% in the last period (3 to 13 March 2022). Among those who reported a cost of living increase, the most frequently reported reasons continued to be:

• rising food shop prices (88%)
• rising energy bills (83%)
• increases to the price of fuel (77%)

Travelling to work

In the period 16 to 27 March 2022, the proportion of working adults in Great Britain who in the past seven days:

• travelled to work (both exclusively and in combination with working from home) was broadly similar to the previous period (3 to 13 March 2022) at 71%
• worked exclusively from home remained broadly similar to the previous period at 12%
• neither travelled to work nor worked from home was broadly similar to the previous period at 17%

Shopping

Of the 94% of adults in Great Britain who reported leaving home in the past seven days (broadly unchanged from 95% in the previous period), the proportion that did so to go shopping was 85%.

Face coverings

Of the 94% of adults in Great Britain who reported leaving home in the past seven days, the proportion that did so and reported wearing a face covering decreased by 6 percentage points from the previous period, to 68%. Further breakdowns, such as the situation when a face covering was worn (for example, while shopping), and by country, is available in Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain.

Faster indicator

A faster indicator provides insight into economic activity using close-to-real-time big data, administrative data sources, rapid response surveys or Experimental Statistics, which represent useful economic and social concepts.

Information on the methodology used to produce the indicators in this bulletin is available in the Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators methodology.

These statistics have been produced to provide timely indicators of the effect of developing world events on the UK economy and society, using close-to-real-time big data, administrative data sources, rapid response surveys or Experimental Statistics.

The data presented in this bulletin are reviewed and refreshed on a regular basis. Indicators are swapped in and out of the publication based on their suitability and availability.

UK coronavirus restrictions

A full overview of coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions for each of the four UK constituent countries can be found below.

• England
• Scotland
• Wales
• Northern Ireland

These restrictions should be considered when interpreting the data featured throughout this bulletin.

Seasonality

Seasonal fluctuations are likely to be present in many of these indicators so caution must be applied when interpreting changes in series that are not seasonally adjusted.