The employment series show changes in the level of employment over a period of time. They generally relate to employees (wage earners and salaried employees) working on a specified day or during a specified week in each month or quarter, or sometimes to the average number working during a given period. Usually, no distinction is made between persons employed full time and those working less than full time. Certain series of tables 1 and 2 cover, in addition to employees, other status groups, i.e. employers, own-account workers and unpaid family workers (see footnotes).

The definition of employment, as stated in the Resolution adopted by the Eighth International Conference of Labour Statisticians (Geneva, 1954), as well as the methodological descriptions of the various national series released in the Bulletin, are given in Sources and Methods: Labour Statistics (formerly Statistical Sources and Methods). A technical guide to series published in the Bulletin of Labour Statistics and the Yearbook of Labour Statistics. Vol. 2: "Employment, wages, hours of work and labour cost (establishment surveys)", second edition (Geneva, ILO, 1995); Vol. 3: "Economically active population, employment, unemployment and hours of work (household surveys)", third edition (Geneva, ILO, 2004) and Vol. 4: "Employment, unemployment, wages and hours of work (administrative records and related sources)", second edition (Geneva, ILO, 2004).

In 1982, the Thirteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians adopted a new Resolution concerning Statistics of the Economically Active Population, Employment, Unemployment and Underemployment, in which the definition of employment is revised.

The new definition is to a large extent similar to the earlier definition adopted by the Eighth Conference. It however, introduces certain elaborations concerning, in particular, self-employment, job attachment, unpaid family workers, working students, apprentices, armed forces, etc., which make it possible to measure employment more accurately.

The full text of the Resolution is given in the publication: Current international recommendations on labour statistics, (Geneva, ILO, 2000).

The four main sources of employment statistics described below are identified in the tables by the codes I, II, III and IV.

Source I: Labour force sample surveys and General household sample surveys

These surveys are a source of regular information on both the total civilian labour force (employed plus unemployed) and the total inactive population.

For the employed population, Source I covers all status groups, that is, not only wage earners and salaried employees but also employers, own-account workers, unpaid family workers and members of producers' cooperatives. The data generally relate to employment during a specified brief period, either one week or one day. Usually, no distinction is made between persons employed full time and those working less than full time.

Source II: Social insurance statistics

This source covers the working population protected by sickness, accident or unemployment insurance schemes, or the like. The number of contributors or of contributions paid provides a measure of the number of insured persons in employment (unemployed persons being exempt from the obligation to pay contributions). Persons working a very short time or receiving a very low pay are sometimes excluded from these statistics. In addition to changes in the actual number of persons employed, employment statistics based on social insurance records may also reflect changes in coverage of particular industrial, occupational or status groups.

Source III: Establishment surveys

This source provides data on the number of workers on establishment payrolls for a specified payroll period or working day in this period. In general, there are two types of establishment statistics.

The first type covers all establishments of a given importance, e.g. those fulfilling certain conditions, such as having more than a certain number of employees, having an annual output of more than a certain value, etc. The data thus obtained may be subject to some bias owing to the exclusion of establishments which are below the minimum size fixed for the series; moreover, a shift of employment from small to large establishments will be reflected in a rising trend in the series; provided, however, that this minimum is small, the scope of such series is usually very wide and they furnish a close approximation of the fluctuations in employment.

The second type of statistics relate to a sample of establishments. The chief difficulty with such statistics is to ensure that the sample of establishments remains representative of the whole. For example, changes in industrial structure, the growth and decline of individual establishments, general population movements and pronounced changes in the levels of activity in some sectors of the economy tend to introduce a cumulative bias in this sample which may become appreciable after several years.

In certain countries where statistics of the first type (all establishments of a given importance) are available only at annual or longer intervals, they may be combined either by chaining or by interpolation with statistics of the second type (samples of establishments) which are available more frequently.

Source IV: Official estimates

These statistics are official estimates provided by national authorities. Such estimates are usually based on combined information drawn from one or more of the above sources (I, II and III).

Unless otherwise indicated in footnotes, the series cover the major divisions of economic activity listed below.

Table 1 (general level)

Agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing; mining and quarrying; manufacturing; electricity, gas and water; construction; wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels; transport, storage and communication; financing, insurance, real estate and business services; community, social and personal services; activities not adequately defined.

Table 2 (non-agricultural activities)

Mining and quarrying; manufacturing; electricity, gas and water; construction; wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels; transport, storage and communication; financing, insurance, real estate and business services; community, social and personal services; activities not adequately defined.

Table 3 (manufacturing)

Manufacturing.

For the explanation of signs and symbols used in the tables, click here.