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Hello and welcome to More or Less, the show about naughty numbers where the grown-ups

are always in charge. This week the spirit of Donald Rumsfeld is with us as we try

to navigate the largely unknown world of fungi. We examine the rules around testosterone

and transwomen's participation in elite sport. But first, Prime Minister Boris Johnson

has been in a spot of bother in the past few weeks. No, not that bother. The kind of

bother we really care about. Statistical bother. First up, there's been some apparently

good news about employment numbers. There are now more people in work than there

were before the pandemic. There were 500,000 more people in work now than there were when

the pandemic began. 500,000 more jobs today than there were when the pandemic began. Record

numbers of people in work, 420,000 more than there were before the pandemic began. 420,000

more people in work now than before. The pandemic began. Record numbers of people in work.

We have more people in employment and more people in the payroll. Now there were before

the pandemic began. But last week the Office for Statistics Regulation

wrote to number 10 pointing out that most of these statements were untrue. It seems the

message didn't get through to the Prime Minister though, because the day after the letter

arrived, he was at it again. More people in work now than before the

pandemic began and that is the record it's coming. So what's going on? I've been speaking

to Tony Wilson, the director of the Institute for Employment Studies.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly said, as have other ministers, that there are more people

in work than before the pandemic. To do that, they're using PAYYE data, which is data from

pay as you earn tax records, supplied to the HM revenue and customs and are now used

...