Scrutinising statistics, questioning BME unemployment: The uses of labour market statistics in parliamentary select committee evidence sessions

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

Abstract

This article describes how statistics are scrutinised as evidence. It focuses on the uses of a labour market statistic during House of Commons select committee evidence sessions. The statistic in question was ‘55.5% of economically active black men, aged 16–24, are unemployed’. The article describes how this individual piece of evidence was scrutinised through ‘ordinary’ interactional practices. By drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, the article describes how questions and answers about this piece of evidence were organised by politicians, policymakers and witnesses. These members accounted for this statistic by expressing horror, questioning and interrupting witnesses, giving analyses of educational attainment, critiquing the validity of the statistic, citing factors such as ‘unconscious bias’, professing they were working hard, and sanctioning witnesses’ answers. The article shows how statistical evidence is both a tool and an object of scrutiny, a basic component for policy deliberation, and how it is interactionally organised through ‘ordinary’ practices.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)543-558
Number of pages16
JournalEvidence and Policy
Volume15
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
I would like to acknowledge the guidance and feedback from Alice Mah and Noel Whiteside,as well as discussions with other colleagues at the University of Warwick;John Heritage, Steven Clayman, and students at the ‘Talk and Social Institutions’ seminars; also, the insightful comments from the anonymous reviewers and editors of this journal. Research for this work was supported by an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) grant (Award Reference no. 1360579).

Publisher Copyright:
© Policy Press 2019

Research Groups and Themes

  • SPS Centre for Urban and Public Policy Research

Keywords

  • BME
  • Ethnomethodological studies of work
  • Labour market statistics
  • Parliamentary select committees

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