Strikes have had little impact on people being able to work, figures have suggested.
A wave of industrial action has been taking place in various sectors as disputes with the Government over pay and conditions rumble on.
Almost half (43%) of adults surveyed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) stated that such action is an important issue.
The vast majority (97%) of working adults have not missed work as a result of the strikes, with just 3% saying they had, the ONS said.
We asked about missed work because of industrial action:
▪️ 3% of working adults said that they had missed work▪️ 97% said they had not missed work
Our survey covers 25 Jan to 5 Feb 2023; most responses will relate to before the day of industrial action on 1 February 2023.
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) February 10, 2023
The ONS said it had asked a question about whether people had missed work because of industrial action in the past seven days, as part of its wider survey on public opinions and social trends.
The survey period covered January 25 to February 5 but the ONS cautioned that the majority of responses would have been received before the February 1 strikes when hundreds of thousands of workers walked out in the biggest day of industrial action in more than a decade.
The ONS said their survey results – of 4,988 households in Great Britain with a response rate of 55% corresponding to 2,742 individuals – included people taking part in industrial action as well as those affected by it.
There was no difference between the sexes, with both 3% of men and women reporting having missed work due to industrial action, the ONS said.
