ILO Leads final stage of the Southern African Development Community Labour Market Observatory development
21 October 2025
Johannesburg, South Africa. (ILO News) - The International Labour Organization (ILO), in collaboration with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat, convened the SADC Labour Market Observatory (LMO) Data Preparation and ETL Workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa. The workshop marks the third and final stage in the technical implementation of the SADC Labour Market Observatory.
Led by the ILO, this initiative will result in the establishment of a regional platform that compiles, harmonises, and organises labour market data from SADC Member States to report on various dimensions of Decent Work.
This workshop represents the culmination of a series of technical engagements, following earlier sessions on SDMX and data modelling. It focuses on uploading, validating, and testing national datasets on the LMIS.Stat platform — a crucial step toward the official launch of the Observatory.
Speaking during the opening session, Dr Maxwell Parakokwa, Senior Programme Officer – Employment, Labour and Youth at the SADC Secretariat, commended the ILO’s technical leadership and partnership, noting that the Observatory represents a significant regional milestone in advancing evidence-based policymaking and promoting decent work.
Through the LMO, Member States will have access to comparable, timely, and quality labour market data that supports decision-making, planning, and employment policy development,” Dr Parakokwa stated.
The five-day workshop brings together labour statisticians, ICT experts, and labour market analysts from across the region to finalise data uploads, validate indicators, and review visualisation tools and dashboards for regional reporting and analysis.
On the side lines of the meeting, participants also joined the global community in marking World Statistics Day 2025, under the theme Driving Change with Quality Statistics and Data for Everyone. The celebration underscored the central role of reliable data in advancing development and regional integration.
Developed under the SADC Regional Statistics Project and financed by the World Bank, the SADC Labour Market Observatory—led technically by the ILO—will serve as a regional hub for labour market information, strengthening coordination, comparability, and accessibility of data across all SADC Member States.
In addition to supporting the implementation of the SADC LMO, ILO is also supporting several Member States in the implementation of their national Labour Market Information System (LMIS).