The Office for National Statistics has repeated its claim that there have been fewer people working in property.

Figures released yesterday show a 0.3% reduction in property jobs.

Property was one of only two employment sectors – the other being public administration and defence – to show a decrease.

The 0.3% reduction between 2013 and 2014 compares with a 6.2% growth in property jobs between 2009 and 2014.

The property jobs are measured separately from construction jobs which fell 6.9% between 2009 and 2014, but rose 5.5% between 2013 and 2014.

The ONS puts the current number of people working in “property” as 319,600 full-time plus 16,400 part-time.

While there is no breakdown, it is understood that the property category includes public and private sector jobs such as property managers, administrators, consultants and maintenance, as well as sales and lettings agents.

However, the ONS did specifically claim earlier this month that between April and June this year there were 50,000 people working as estate agents or auctioneers in Britain – down from 55,000 in the same period last year.

Those ONS figures also seem very low in the light of joint research a year ago by TPO and Rightmove, which established that there were at that time 20,000 agency branches in the country.

The earlier claim of job losses among agents was also strongly disputed by property industry recruiters.

Lee Biggins, founding and managing director of recruitment business CV-Library, said he disagreed with the latest ONS figures on jobs in property.

He said: “Our own data contradicts the ONS findings as jobs in the property industry were up 29.61% in 2014 versus 2013.

“What’s more, our data shows this trend continuing as jobs in the sector are already up 37.19% in 2015 versus 2014.”