Publications

2019

  1. Quick guide on measuring economic characteristics in the population census

    23 October 2019

    Population and housing censuses are a vital part of national statistical systems. They provide essential information on the structure, characteristics and housing conditions of a country’s population, and serve as a backbone to national household survey programmes and other statistical activities necessary to support informed policymaking. Capturing essential economic characteristics of the population in the census is recommended as a core topic for the 2020 Round of Population and Housing Censuses. To support these efforts, the ILO Department of Statistics, collaborates with the UN Statistics Division to issue updated international census recommendations aligned with the latest ICLS standards, and develops practical tools and training to support census planners in adapting these recommendations to the national context.

  2. Persons outside the labour force: How inactive are they really? Delving into the potential labour force with ILO harmonized estimates

    01 August 2019

    Inactivity rates are increasing around the world, while the global population and labour force are ageing. But the inactivity rate is an aggregate measure overlooking the different profiles of people outside the labour force. This new Spotlight on Work Statistics explores the characteristics of the potential labour force, made up of persons outside the labour force with an attachment to the labour market.

  3. The Global Labour Income Share and Distribution

    04 July 2019

    The ILO dataset, developed by the ILO Department of Statistics, contains data from 189 countries and is drawn from the world’s largest collection of harmonized labour force survey data.

  4. The global labour income share and distribution: Methodological description

    05 June 2019

    The article is organized into four sections. Section II describes in detail the methodology and its relationship to the literature. Section III presents some of the results, including the global labour income share and distribution and their evolution since 2004. Section IV concludes.

  5. The working poor - or how a job is no guarantee of decent living conditions

    03 May 2019

    This issue of ILOSTAT’s Spotlight on work statistics focuses on employed people living in extreme poverty around the world. Using ILO’s global estimates of employment by economic class, it shows the great progress achieved during the last few decades in reducing working poverty in the world, and how more effort is still needed to completely eradicate it, particularly considering the strong regional disparities.

  6. Labour market access - a persistent challenge for youth around the world

    12 March 2019

    The fifth issue of our series Spotlight on work statistics uses the first ever global estimates of youth not in employment, education or training along with other youth labour market indicators to explore the situation of youth in labour markets around the world, and unveil the additional challenges they face.

  7. Quick guide on interpreting the unemployment rate

    06 March 2019

    The unemployment rate is a key labour market indicator, but it has many shortcomings which we must take into account when interpreting it. The Quick guide on interpreting the unemployment rate provides helpful information on all the main aspects underlying this headline indicator and its limitations. It also provides tips to communicate effectively on the unemployment rate.

  8. Report of the Conference

    16 January 2019

    Based on several comments received from the participants of the 20th ICLS, the draft Report of the Conference was finalized and being presented here. Many thanks for all the contributions.

2018

  1. ILOSTAT Microdata Processing Quick Guide. Principles and methods underlying the ILO’s processing of anonymized household survey microdata

    29 November 2018

  2. Quick guide on sources and uses of collective bargaining statistics

    02 November 2018

    Collective bargaining statistics are crucial to assess labour markets but also the state of industrial relations. However, the particularities linked with the data sources and data quality make collective bargaining statistics a very challenging field of labour statistics. Get information about all the main aspects of collective bargaining statistics in this quick guide.