Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Labour Statistics Convention, 1985 (No. 160) - United States of America (Ratification: 1990)

The Committee notes the supplementary information provided by the Government in light of the Governing Body’s decision at its 338th Session (June 2020). The Committee proceeded to examine the application of the Convention on the basis of the supplementary information provided this year, as well as of the information available to it in 2019.

Articles 7 and 8 of the Convention. Employment, unemployment and underemployment statistics. Statistics of the structure and distribution of the economically active population. The Committee notes the comprehensive information provided by the Government in its report and notes that statistics continue to be supplied regularly to the ILO Department of Statistics for dissemination through its website (ILOSTAT). The Committee notes the Government’s indication that there were no changes in the laws and regulations which administer the collection, compilation and publication of labour statistics in the United States during the reporting period. The main source of statistics on the labour force, employment, unemployment and time-related underemployment continues to be the monthly Current Population Survey (CPS). Statistics derived from the CPS, along with the relevant methodological information, are disseminated through the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ website. The Committee notes from the supplementary information provided by the Government that, in May 2017, a special supplement to the CPS on contingent workers and alternative employment arrangements was conducted (the Contingent Worker Supplement (CWS)). Based on experience with the CWS, the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioned a study from the National Academy of Sciences to recommend updates to the CWS. The Committee notes that data on the economically active population derived from population censuses are regularly compiled, recalling that the most recent population census was conducted in April 2010. It notes that the next population census took place in 2020, but that on 13 October 2020, the US Supreme Court allowed the Census Bureau to halt the 2020 census count ahead of schedule. The Committee requests that the Government provide data and information on the methodology used in the application of the provisions of the Convention, including in relation to the 2020 population census. It also invites the Government to provide information on any developments in relation to the implementation of the resolution concerning statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization (resolution I), adopted by the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (October 2013).