PCC rules on correction to Prime Minister's new jobs for British workers claim

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has ruled that the Telegraph has to correct an article by David Cameron published in July in which he wrote: "... while most new jobs used to go to foreign workers, in the past year more than three quarters have gone to British workers."

The paper had already agreed to publish a correction without a formal ruling from the PCC after it was put to them that this was a misreading of data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The Telegraph's proposed correction read, in part:

"[ONS] data which the Prime Minister used for his analysis refer only to net changes in the number of foreign and British people in employment; it is not possible on this basis to determine the number of 'new jobs'"

But objections from the Prime Minister's office led to a change in its wording to refer to the article itself rather than its author. That prompted National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Director Jonathan Portes, who'd lodged the complaint, to decline the new correction and ask the PCC to make a formal ruling "to assist future discussion on the subject".

The PCC has ruled the new wording is sufficient. It reads:

"The original version of this article stated that while most new jobs used to go to foreign workers, in the past year more than three quarters have gone to British workers. We would like to make clear that the Office of National Statistics data on which this was based track net changes in employment, not 'new' jobs. The data show that British nationals account for more than three quarters of the growth in employment over this period."

See our guide for more information on how the employment figures can and can't be interpreted.