Labour force statistics
ILO statement on employment and unemployment statistics in Cambodia
The ILO Country Office for Thailand, Cambodia and Lao People's Democratic Republic clarifies statistics, published in the ILO Labour Force Statistics database.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (ILO News) – The ILO Country Office for Thailand, Cambodia and Lao People's Democratic Republic wishes to clarify information relating to employment and unemployment statistics in Cambodia.
The employment statistics, published in the ILO Labour Force Statistics database (ILOSTAT), use definitions based on the 13th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS, 1982). In Cambodia, the latest employment-to-population value in line with international standards is from the 2019 Report on the Cambodia Labour Force Survey (English and Khmer excerpts), and is at 68.6 per cent (76.3 per cent for men and 61.8 per cent for women).
The employment-to-population ratio1 gives a better indication of the magnitude of population that is engaged in employment within the total working-age population. It is the best available indicator to gauge how the labour market is providing employment for the population.
The ILO does not publish what is sometimes called the ‘employment rate’, as this is not an internationally recognized indicator and does not add information beyond what the unemployment rate already provides.
The overall estimated unemployment rate (defined as the unemployed as a percentage of the total labour force) in the Report on the Cambodia Labour Force Survey 2019 was 1.2 per cent.
Through this mechanism, the unemployment rate according to the 19th ICLS will be different from that estimated through the 13th ICLS. The concept used in the 19th ICLS also tries to identify people who are in the ‘potential labour force’ – to extend the concept of unemployment to a broader concept of labour underutilization.
ILOSTAT publishes data together with information on its source. For Cambodia, due to the intermittent nature of labour force survey (LFS) implementation3 the database also contains unemployment rates based on Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey (CSES) as an alternative source of information. The official producer of both LSF and CSES is the National Institute of Statistics (NIS). However, the designs of the two types of surveys are different, and so are the questionnaires. Thus, the unemployment rate estimated from the CSES is not comparable with that estimated from the LFS.
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1 It is defined as [number of employed]/[working age population]*100.
2 It is defined as [number of unemployed]/[labour force]*100. Concepts and definitions are summarized here: https://ilostat.ilo.org/resources/concepts-and-definitions/description-labour-force-statistics/
3 The data from the LFS that is published in the ILO database covers 2019 and 2012.
The employment statistics, published in the ILO Labour Force Statistics database (ILOSTAT), use definitions based on the 13th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS, 1982). In Cambodia, the latest employment-to-population value in line with international standards is from the 2019 Report on the Cambodia Labour Force Survey (English and Khmer excerpts), and is at 68.6 per cent (76.3 per cent for men and 61.8 per cent for women).
The employment-to-population ratio1 gives a better indication of the magnitude of population that is engaged in employment within the total working-age population. It is the best available indicator to gauge how the labour market is providing employment for the population.
The ILO does not publish what is sometimes called the ‘employment rate’, as this is not an internationally recognized indicator and does not add information beyond what the unemployment rate already provides.
The overall estimated unemployment rate (defined as the unemployed as a percentage of the total labour force) in the Report on the Cambodia Labour Force Survey 2019 was 1.2 per cent.
Background relating to unemployment rates
The ILO publishes unemployment rates2 based on two standards set by the 13th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS, 1982) and more recently by the 19th ICLS (2013). The unemployment rate published in the ILOSTAT is still based on the 13th ICLS definition of employment and unemployment. Another series (‘Unemployment rate by sex and age – 19th ICLS (per cent)’)can also be found on ILOSTAT in the Work Statistics (19th ICLS) database. The 19th ICLS resolution affects the number of people who are classified as employed, and thus the total size of the labour force.Through this mechanism, the unemployment rate according to the 19th ICLS will be different from that estimated through the 13th ICLS. The concept used in the 19th ICLS also tries to identify people who are in the ‘potential labour force’ – to extend the concept of unemployment to a broader concept of labour underutilization.
ILOSTAT publishes data together with information on its source. For Cambodia, due to the intermittent nature of labour force survey (LFS) implementation3 the database also contains unemployment rates based on Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey (CSES) as an alternative source of information. The official producer of both LSF and CSES is the National Institute of Statistics (NIS). However, the designs of the two types of surveys are different, and so are the questionnaires. Thus, the unemployment rate estimated from the CSES is not comparable with that estimated from the LFS.
____________________
1 It is defined as [number of employed]/[working age population]*100.
2 It is defined as [number of unemployed]/[labour force]*100. Concepts and definitions are summarized here: https://ilostat.ilo.org/resources/concepts-and-definitions/description-labour-force-statistics/
3 The data from the LFS that is published in the ILO database covers 2019 and 2012.