ONS harnesses big data in effort to quickly spot economic trends

Novel ways of monitoring the UK economy include counting the number of trucks on roads

Government statisticians are trying to harness the power of big data technology, monitoring the number of lorries on roads and company VAT receipts, in an attempt to more rapidly spot changes taking place in the UK economy.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) believes rapid advances in technology, including around big data, machine learning and online activity, could enable economists to update their traditional toolkits.