The TUC in 'can't count' shocker
"The TUC analysis - produced to coincide with Workwise UK's Commute Smart week this week - of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) shows a fall of one per cent from 2006, from 21.9 per cent (5,517,000 people) to 20.9 per cent (5,311,000 people) of employees undertaking commuter journeys of longer than one hour". Source
Erm, no, it is not a fall of one per cent, it is a fall of one percentage point, which equates to a fall of just over 4.5%.
Pedantry aside, the TUC subscribes to a position equivalent to the crowing cock thinking it causes the sun to rise, or the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy:
"The drop in commute times follows a campaign to promote smarter working by the WorkWise UK coalition, which includes the TUC, the CBI, Transport for London and other leading organisations".
I'm sure we were all well aware of this coalition.... There would appear to be a great many other variables to consider before one could show cause and effect.
They also do a great line in muddling up references to commutes to work and total commutes - "The number of people spending more than one hour per day commuting to work", "and on top of this we still have to commute an average of 54 minutes per day".
As to the data, I find it astonishing that even we London types only see 40.5% commuting for more than hour each way and 24.6% as the figure for the South East. A bit of playing around with the national rail journey planner makes it pretty clear that getting from the outer 'burbs to say Bank or Holborn in under an hour is going to be a struggle.
Erm, no, it is not a fall of one per cent, it is a fall of one percentage point, which equates to a fall of just over 4.5%.
Pedantry aside, the TUC subscribes to a position equivalent to the crowing cock thinking it causes the sun to rise, or the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy:
"The drop in commute times follows a campaign to promote smarter working by the WorkWise UK coalition, which includes the TUC, the CBI, Transport for London and other leading organisations".
I'm sure we were all well aware of this coalition.... There would appear to be a great many other variables to consider before one could show cause and effect.
They also do a great line in muddling up references to commutes to work and total commutes - "The number of people spending more than one hour per day commuting to work", "and on top of this we still have to commute an average of 54 minutes per day".
As to the data, I find it astonishing that even we London types only see 40.5% commuting for more than hour each way and 24.6% as the figure for the South East. A bit of playing around with the national rail journey planner makes it pretty clear that getting from the outer 'burbs to say Bank or Holborn in under an hour is going to be a struggle.
Labels: fun with statistics, pedantry, travel, Unions
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on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 9:57 am.
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They didn't ask me about my commute so I am not included in the figures.
40 minutes walk (green) or 15 minutes tube (green and fast). Do I get a TUC gold star?
Sniffing around the usual place for Soviet Labour medal names, I've found the not especially exciting sounding medals for Labour Valour and Distinguished Labour. You could be in line for an equivalent, or with a following wind, be a Hero of Socialist Labour.
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