Publications

Key Publications

1. 

   Decent Work Indicators - Concepts and definitions

   21 June 2012

   This Manual on Concepts and Definitions of Decent Work Indicators presents a description of statistical indicators and legal framework indicators related to the ten substantive elements of decent work. The statistical indicators are presented in five elements: measurement objective and rationale; method of computation; concepts and definitions; recommended data sources; and metadata and disaggregation, with brief interpretation guidelines. The legal framework indicators aim to summarize legal information on the 21 topics that are considered as relevant to measure decent work, through several aspects of the law: laws, policies or institutions that are in place; benefit levels and thresholds; evidence of implementation effectiveness; rough percentage of workers covered, both in law and in practice; and the ratification of relevant ILO Conventions.

2. ILO Projections of the Economically Active Population - Revised Methodology of the 2011 Edition

   April 2012

   The International Labour Office (ILO) programme on estimates and projections of the economically active population (EPEAP) is part of a larger international effort on demographic estimates and projections to which several UN agencies contribute. Estimates and projections of the total population and its components by sex and age group are produced by the UN Population Division, and employed populations by the ILO, the agricultural population by FAO and the school attending population by UNESCO.

3. Social Dialogue Indicators Collecting information through Labour Force Surveys

   February 2012

   Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are at the core of decent work. They are fundamental rights at work and the foundations of sound industrial relations and effective social dialogue. Data and indicators on trade union membership and coverage of collective agreements, together with other qualitative indicators, are important for monitoring the progress made towards the effective realization of these rights at work. The measurement of these social dialogue indicators is also essential for assessing the quality of industrial relations and its impact on employment and working conditions.

4. Projections of Economically Active Population - A Review of National and International Methodologies

   December 2011

   Since 1971, the ILO has a programme on estimates and projections of the economically active population (EAP). The main objective of this programme is to provide constituents, international agencies and the public at large with the most comprehensive, detailed and comparable estimates and projections of the EAP in the world. In this context, regular estimates and projection are produced and published by the ILO.

5. Social Dialogue Indicators International Statistical Inquiry 2008-09

   November 2011

   Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining are fundamental principles and rights at work. They are the bedrock of sound industrial relations and effective social dialogue. Indicators of trade union representation and collective bargaining coverage can assist in monitoring progress toward the realization of these rights. They also provide valuable information on the quality of industrial and employment relations and its role in labour market governance.

6. 

   Informal employment in Namibia 2008

   11 March 2011

   This paper reports on analysis of data from Namibia’s 2008 Labour Force Survey (LFS) so as to describe and compare informal and formal employment in the country. The paper is based on an understanding of informal employment which goes beyond the traditional concept of “informal sector”.

7. 

   Beyond the measurement of unemployment and underemployment

   11 March 2011

   The report of the ILO Working Group on Labour Underutilization entitled “Beyond Unemployment: Measurement of Other Forms of Labour Underutilization” (ILO 2008) revisits the appropriateness of the current international standards concerning the statistical measurement of employment and unemployment. It suggests that the standard indicator of unemployment is maintained, while at the same time it calls for the introduction of supplementary indicators of various dimensions of underemployment.

8. 

   Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work

   23 March 2011

   This Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work is intended to guide countries in generating systematic and comparable data on volunteer work via regular supplements to labour force or other household surveys. The objective is to make available comparative cross-national data on a significant form of work that is growing in importance but that is often ignored or rarely captured in traditional economic statistics. Doing so will help to fulfill the United Nations Secretary General’s recommendations in his follow-up to the implementation of the International Year of Volunteers report (United Nations, 2005) that governments “vigorously” pursue “actions to build up a knowledge base” about volunteer work and to “establish the economic value of volunteering.”

9. Yearbook of Labour Statistics

   29 November 2007

   Since its first edition in 1935-36, the Yearbook of Labour Statistics has established itself as the world's foremost work of statistical reference on labour questions, bringing together in systematic form a mass of data from a vast network of authoritative sources of information in some 190 countries.

10. Bulletin of Labour Statistics

    29 November 2007

    Published quarterly, with supplements in the intervening months, the Bulletin of Labour Statistics complements the annual data given in the Yearbook of Labour Statisticswith monthly, quarterly or six-monthly series for the last four years.

11. The ILO October Inquiry

    29 November 2007

    This publication presents the latest results of the ILO October Inquiry, a worldwide survey of wages, hours of work and of retail prices of food items, conducted with reference to the month of October each year.

12. Sources and Methods in Labour Statistics

    This publication presents detailed methodological information about the national sources of the statistics disseminated by the Bureau of Statistics.