For a structural analysis of unemployment it may be useful to collect information on the duration of the search for employment. Among persons in unemployment, it may be useful to identify separately those in long-term unemployment defined as those with a duration of search for employment, as specified in paragraph 49, lasting 12 months or more, including the reference period. To monitor policies related to provision of social benefits, a shorter duration limit may be used (i.e. six months or more).
Resolution I. Resolution concerning statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization, the 19 ICLS
Duration of search for employment
The duration of the search for employment is measured from when unemployed persons began carrying out activities to “seek employment”, or from the end of their last job, whichever is shorter.
Duration of the search for employment
Subsistence foodstuff producers constitute an important subgroup of persons in own-use production work. They are defined as: (a) all those who performed any of the activities in order to produce foodstuff from agriculture, fishing, hunting or gathering that contribute to the livelihood of the household or family; (b) excluded are persons who engaged in such production as recreational or leisure activities.
Subsistence foodstuff producers
Resolution concerning statistics of employment in the informal sector, the 15th ICLS
The population employed in the informal sector comprises all persons who, during a given reference period, were employed in at least one informal sector, irrespective of their status in employment and whether it is their main or a secondary job.
Population employed in the informal sector
Persons in unpaid trainee work are defined as all those of working age who, during a short reference period, performed any unpaid activity to produce goods or provide services for others, in order to acquire workplace experience or skills in a trade or profession.
Persons in Unpaid Trainee Work
Employment is a key form of work for the coverage and production of labor force statistics.
Employment work
Employment work comprising work performed for others in exchange for pay or profit.
Employment
When developing the glossary, the experts analyze the domain documents and materials, external sources, dictionaries and encyclopedias. Some of concepts are described as a result of the harmonization process.
This glossary is a dictionary of highly specialized Labour Statistics terms. It is based on the analysis of methodological documents, academic dictionaries and encyclopedias. The glossary is implemented as a set of concepts with interpretation (lexical reflection), with support for multilingualism, comments and examples, as well as semantic relationships between the concepts.
A job vacancy is defined as a paid post that is newly created, unoccupied, or about to become vacant: for which the employer is taking active steps and is prepared to take further steps to find a suitable candidate from outside the enterprise concerned; and which the employer intends to fill either immediately or within a specific period of time.
Job Vacancy
Time-related underemployment, when the working time of persons in employment is insufficient in relation to alternative employment situations in which they are willing and available to engage.
Time-related Underemployment
Resolution concerning statistics of labour cost, the 11th ICLS
Labour cost is the cost incurred by the employer in the employment of labour. The statistics concept of labour cost comprises remuneration for work performed, payments in respect of time paid for but not worked, bonuses and gratuities, the cost of food, drink and other payments in kind, cost of workers' housing borne by employers, employers' social security expenditures, cost to the employer for vocational training, welfare services and miscellaneous items, such as transport of workers, work clothes and recruitment, together with taxes regarded as labour cost.
Labour cost
Volunteer work сomprising non-compulsory work performed for others without pay.
Volunteer Work
The movement of the labor force is the change in the number of employees over a certain period due to hiring and leaving work for various reasons.
Movement of the labor force
The informal sector may be broadly characterised as consisting of units engaged in the production of goods or services with the primary objective of generating employment and incomes to the persons concerned. These units typically operate at a low level of organisation, with little or no division between labour and capital as factors of production and on a small scale. Labour relations where they exist - are based mostly on casual employment, kinship or personal and social relations rather than contractual arrangements with formal guarantees. Production units of the informal sector have the characteristic features of household enterprises. The fixed and other assets used do not belong to the production units as such but to their owners. The units as such cannot engage in transactions or enter into contracts with other units, nor incur liabilities, on their own behalf. The owners have to raise the necessary finance at their own risk and are personally liable, without limit, for any debts or obligations incurred in the production process. Expenditure for production is often indistinguishable from household expenditure. Similarly, capital goods such as buildings or vehicles may be used indistinguishably for business and household purposes. Activities performed by production units of the informal sector are not necessarily performed with the deliberate intention of evading the payment of taxes or social security contributions, or infringing labour or other legislations or administrative provisions. Accordingly, the concept of informal sector activities should be distinguished from the concept of activities of the hidden or underground economy. Within the household sector, the informal sector comprises: ( i) "informal own-account enterprises" as defined in paragraph 8 (Resolution concerning statistics of employment in the informal sector, the 15th ICLS); and (ii) the additional component consisting of "enterprises of informal employers" as defined in paragraph 9 (Resolution concerning statistics of employment in the informal sector, the 15th ICLS). The informal sector is defined irrespective of the kind of workplace where the productive activities are carried out, the extent of fixed capital assets used, the duration of the operation of the enterprise (perennial, seasonal or casual), and its operation as a main or secondary activity of the owner.
The informal sector is regarded as a group of production units which, according to the definitions and classifications provided in the United Nations System of National Accounts, form part of the household sector as household enterprises or, equivalently, unincorporated enterprises owned by households.
Informal sector
Eurostat Glossary:Unemployment
Unemployement is one of the measures of labour underutilization reflecting an active job search by persons not in employment who are available for this form of work.
Unemployment
Outdated Term The preamble to Resolution I adopted by the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) notes that it replaces the Resolution concerning statistics of the economically active population, employment, unemployment and underemployment, adopted by the 13th ICLS in 1982. The term “economically active population” has been considered outdated since the adoption of Resolution I by the 19th ICLS in 2013 and is used only in reference to previously published statistical data.
The sum of persons in employment and in unemployment equals the economically active population.
Economically Active Population
Resolution I. Resolution concerning statistics on work relationships, the 20th ICLS
Workers in employment for pay are employed persons who receive, or expect to receive, remuneration in cash or in kind, in return for time worked or for each piece or service produced. They include both employees and owner-operators of corporations who hold a job in an incorporated enterprise which they own and control.
Workers in employment for pay
For purposes of measurement of income related to employment for profit, those employed for profit are primarily the sole owners, or joint owners, of the unincorporated household enterprises or quasi-corporations in which they work, according to the definition contained in the System of National Accounts. They do not include the owner-operators of corporations, who are considered workers in employment for pay according to ICSE. Income related to employment for profit excludes income derived from employment for pay, and other sources not related to employment, such as property income in the form of interest, dividends, income attributed to private insurance policyholders, rents and other forms of property income, as well as annuities, remittances, gifts, etc. It also excludes family allowances and other social security benefits or assistance (e.g. food stamps, government or community housing, free health-care assistance, etc.) paid by social security schemes or the State without regard to the employment status (e.g. under universal schemes with or without means tests).
Resolution III: Resolution to amend Resolution 16th ICLS concerning the measurement of employment-related income
Income related to employment for profit is defined as the income which is received, over a given reference period, by individuals, for themselves or in respect of their family members who help in family businesses as contributing family workers, as a result of their current or former involvement in employment for profit.
Income related to employment for profit
Potential labour force (entrants) is defined as all persons of working age who, during the short reference period, were neither in employment nor in unemployment and: (a) carried out activities to “seek employment”, were not “currently available” but would become available within a short subsequent period established in the light of national circumstances (i.e. unavailable jobseekers); or (b) did not carry out activities to “seek employment”, but wanted employment and were “currently available” (i.e. available potential jobseekers).
Potential Labour Force
The balance of labor resources is a tool for combining basic statistical information about the labor market based on the system of indicators reflecting the availability of labor resources and their distribution.
Balance of Labour Resources
Net income related to employment for pay may be derived by deducting employees' direct taxes, union dues and other obligations. Whenever possible, the different types of deductions should be identified and recorded separately. Income related to employment for pay excludes income derived from other forms of activity and other sources, such as income related to employment for profit, property income in the form of interest, dividends, income attributed to private insurance policyholders, rents and other forms of property income, as well as annuities, remittances, gifts, etc. When the objective is to measure the income-generating capacity of a job, all the components of income related to employment for pay provided by the employer should be included. When the objective is to analyse the individual's employment-related well-being, the additional employment-related benefits provided by social security or compulsory insurance schemes or by the State should also be included.
Income related to employment for pay includes: total cash remuneration; the value of remuneration in kind and services; profit-related pay; and employment-related social security benefits received either directly from the employer, from social security or compulsory insurance schemes or the State.
Income related to employment for pay
The various forms of work are measured with respect to a short reference period. The appropriate reference period for each form is based on the intensity of participation and working time arrangements.
Short Reference Period
These forms of work are distinguished on the basis of the intended destination of the production (for own final use; or for use by others, i.e. other economic units) and the nature of the transaction (i.e. monetary or non-monetary transactions, and transfers). Own-use production of goods, employment, unpaid trainee work, a part of volunteer work and “other work activities” form the basis for the preparation of national production accounts within the 2008 SNA production boundary. Own-use provision of services and the remaining part of volunteer work complete the national production accounts i.e. beyond the 2008 SNA production boundary but inside the General production boundary.
Five mutually exclusive forms of work identified for separate measurement are as follows: (a) own-use production work comprising production of goods and services for own final use; (b) employment work comprising work performed for others in exchange for pay or profit; (c) unpaid trainee work comprising work performed for others without pay to acquire workplace experience or skills; (d) volunteer work comprising non-compulsory work performed for others without pay; (e) other work activities (not defined in the ISLC 19 Resolution I).
Forms of Work
Own-use production work comprising production of goods and services for own final use.
Own-use Production
For purposes of computing indicators of labour underutilization (LU3 and LU4 as defined in paragraph 73(c) of ISLC 19 Resolution I), the reference population used is the extended labour force.
Extended labour force is defined as the sum of the labour force plus the potential labour force.
Extended labour force
Earnings exclude employers' contributions in respect of their employees paid to social security and pension schemes and also the benefits received by employees under these schemes. Earnings also exclude severance and termination pay. Statistics of earnings should relate to employees gross remuneration, i.e. the total before any deductions are made by the employer in respect of taxes, contributions of employees to social security and pension schemes, life insurance premiums, union dues and other obligations of employees. Earnings should include: direct wages and salaries, remuneration for time not worked (excluding severance and termination pay), bonuses and gratuities and housing and family allowances paid by the employer directly to his employee. (a) Direct wages and salaries for time worked, or work done, cover: ( i) straight-time pay of timerated workers; (ii) incentive pay of time-rated workers; (iii) earnings of pieceworkers (excluding overtime premiums); (iv) premium pay for overtime, shift, night and holiday work; (v) commissions paid to sales and other personnel. Included are: premiums for seniority and special skills, geographical zone differentials, responsibility premiums, dirt, danger and discomfort allowances, payments under guaranteed wage systems, cost-of-living allowances and other regular allowances. (b) Remuneration for time not worked comprises direct payments to employees in respect of public holidays, annual vacations and other time off with pay granted by the employer. (c) Bonuses and gratuities cover seasonal and end-of-year bonuses, additional payments in respect of vacation period (supplementary to normal pay) and profit-sharing bonuses. Statistics of earnings should distinguish cash earnings from payments in kind.
Resolution concerning an integrated system of wages statistics, the 12th ICLS
The concept of earnings, as applied in wages statistics, relates to remuneration in cash and in kind paid to employees, as a rule at regular intervals, for time worked or work done together with remuneration for time not worked, such as for annual vacation, other paid leave or holidays.
Earnings
Persons outside the labour force are those of working age who were neither in employment nor in unemployment in the short reference period.
Persons Outside the Labour Force
Persons in unemployment are defined as all those of working age who were not in employment, carried out activities to seek employment during a specified recent period and were currently available to take up employment given a job opportunity.
Persons in Unemployment
The real earnings in an economic activity are a major indicator of employees’ purchasing power and a proxy for their level of income, independent of the actual work performed in that activity.
Real earnings
Workers in employment for profit are employed persons whose remuneration is directly and entirely dependent on the profit or loss made by the economic unit in which they are employed, including remuneration in cash or in kind by way of a commercial transaction for goods produced or services provided.
Workers in employment for profit
Guidelines on International Labor Migration Statistics, the 20th ICLS
Informal employment comprises the total number of informal jobs whether carried out in formal sector enterprises, informal sector enterprises, or households, during a given reference period.
Informal employment
Persons in volunteer work are defined as all those of working age who, during a short reference period, performed any unpaid, non-compulsory activity to produce goods or provide services for others
Persons in Volonteer Work
Wage rates should include basic wages, cost-of-living allowances and other guaranteed and regularly paid allowances.
Wage rates
The concept of international migrant workers is meant to measure the current labour attachment of international migrants in a country, irrespective of the initial purpose of migration, and of others who are not usual residents of the country but have current labour attachment in the country of measurement. The terms “international migrant workers” and “international migrant and non‐resident foreign workers” are equivalent. They are defined, for statistical purposes, as all persons of working age present in the country of measurement who are in one of the following two categories: (a) usual residents: international migrants who, during a specified reference period, were in the labour force of the country of their usual residence, either in employment or in unemployment; (b) not usual residents, or non‐resident foreign workers: persons who, during a specified reference period, were not usual residents of the country but were present in the country and had labour attachment to the country, i.e., were either in employment supplying labour to resident producer units of that country or were seeking employment in that country. From the perspective of the country of usual residence, category (b) of international migrant workers (not usual residents, or non‐resident foreign workers) may be called “residents working abroad”. From the perspective of the country of citizenship, resident citizens working abroad and non‐resident citizens working abroad (in the sense of being in the labour force of the country of their current usual residence) may be called “citizens working aboard”. Similarly, from the perspective of the country of birth, resident nativeborn persons working abroad and non‐resident native‐born persons working abroad may be called “native‐born persons working abroad”.
International migrant, Non‐resident foreign workers
International migrant workers are defined, for statistical purposes, as all persons of working age present in the country of measurement who are in one of the following two categories: (a) usual residents; (b) not usual residents, or non‐resident foreign workers.
International migrant workers
Time units are the statistical units used for producing statistics of volume of work in reference to each form of work or to any combination thereof. These units may be short such as minutes or hours, or long such as half-days, days, weeks or months.
Time Unit
Employees remunerated in cash or in kind in return for time worked or, in some cases, for each task or piece of work done or for services provided including sales (by the piece or commission). Payment for time worked is the typical mode of remuneration. Payment in kind is generally received in the form of goods. Where payment is received in the form of services, this is generally complementary to payment in cash. Employees may be employed in market units, non-market units and households producing goods and/or services mainly for own consumption. They may hold shares in the economic unit in which they are employed, or have authority over aspects of the operations of the economic unit as employees with management responsibilities but do not hold controlling ownership of the enterprise. They are accountable to a third party within the economic unit such as a person or board. Employees include the following specific groups among others: (a) workers who have been engaged on terms corresponding to those of paid employment when the employing organization has entered into a contract only with an intermediary such as a crew leader or organizing agent, and not with the individual worker who is an employee of the intermediary; (b) worker-members of cooperatives who are paid for time worked or for each task or piece of work done; and (c) informally employed workers without a commercial contract who are paid for time worked Employees exclude workers without a formal, informal or implicit contract of employment (or in the absence of information about the nature of the contract) who are: (a) paid only by the piece or commission; or (b) paid according to a commercial contract for the provision of goods or services Employees may be further disaggregated according to the nature of the contractual arrangements for employment, the degree of permanency of the employment relationship and the stability of the working time available to the employee, to form the following groups: 41 – Permanent employees. 42 – Fixed-term employees. 43 – Short-term and casual employees. 44 – Paid trainees, apprentices and interns.
Employees are workers employed for pay, on a formal or informal basis, who do not hold controlling ownership of the economic unit in which they are employed.
Employees
The minimum wage is the lowest wage that employers are legally obliged to pay their employees. The basic national minimum wage can be fixed at an hourly, weekly or monthly rate, and this minimum wage is enforced by law (the government), often after consultation with the social partners.
Minimum wage
Wages arrears - the amounts of wages actually accrued to employees, but not paid on time, which is established by the collective agreement or the contract for settlement and cash services concluded with the bank.
Wages arrears
Resolution I. Resolution concerning the measurement of working time, the 18th ICLS
Job is defined as a set of tasks and duties performed, or meant to be performed, by one person, including for an employer or in self-employment.
Job
Labor resources comprise the population engaged in economic activity, as well as the people, able to work, but not working for one reason or another.
Labour Resources
Among persons in unemployment, it may be useful to identify separately those in long-term unemployment defined as those with a duration of search for employment lasting 12 months or more, including the reference period.
Persons in long-term unemployment
C175 - Part-Time Work Convention (No.175)
The term part-time worker means an employed person whose normal hours of work are less than those of comparable full-time workers.
Part-time worker
The median is the middle value in a group of numbers ranked by size. It is the number which is exactly in the middle so that 50% of the ranked numbers are above and 50% are below the median.
Median earnings
Employed persons include both self-employed (regardless of whether it was permanent, temporary, seasonal, casual or one-time work) and self-employed in all sectors of the economy. Thus, the number of employees should include persons working in state-owned enterprises and organizations; in cooperatives of all types; in private enterprises and enterprises with a mixed form of ownership; in public organizations (including ministers of religious worship); in farming (peasant) farms, as well as those engaged in self-employment, in a personal subsidiary farm and for individuals, or performing work as an assistant at a family enterprise. Employed persons include: employed persons who are "at work", i.e. those who have worked at least one hour at the workplace; employed persons who are "not at work" due to temporary absence from the workplace or the organization of working hours (for example, due to shift work, flexible working hours and overtime days off).
Persons in employment are defined as all those of working age who, during a short reference period, were engaged in any activity to produce goods or provide services for pay or profit.
Persons in Employment
To determine the working-age population: (a) the lower age limit should be set taking into consideration the minimum age for employment and exceptions specified in national laws or regulations, or the age of completion of compulsory schooling; (b) no upper age limit should be set, so as to permit comprehensive coverage of work activities of the adult population and to examine transitions between employment and retirement.
Working Age
Labour underutilization refers to mismatches between labour supply and demand, which translate into an unmet need for employment among the population.
Labour Underutilization
Work is defined irrespective of its formal or informal character or the legality of the activity. Work excludes activities that do not involve producing goods or services (e.g. begging and stealing), self-care (e.g. personal grooming and hygiene) and activities that cannot be performed by another person on one’s own behalf (e.g. sleeping, learning and activities for own recreation). The concept of work is aligned with the General production boundary as defined in the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA) and its concept of economic unit that distinguishes between: (I) market units (i.e. corporations, quasi-corporations and household unincorporated market enterprises); (II) non-market units (i.e. government and non-profit institutions serving households); and (II) households that produce goods or services for own final use. Work can be performed in any kind of economic unit. To meet different objectives, five mutually exclusive forms of work are identified for separate measurement
Work comprises any activity performed by persons of any sex and age to produce goods or to provide services for use by others or for own use.
Work
Hours actually worked is the time spent in a job for the performance of activities that contribute to the production of goods and/or services during a specified short or long reference period. Hours actually worked applies to all types of jobs (within and beyond the SNA production boundary) and is not linked to administrative or legal concepts. Hours actually worked measured within the SNA production boundary includes time spent directly on, and in relation to, productive activities; down time; and resting time. (a) “Direct hours” is the time spent carrying out the tasks and duties of a job. This may be performed in any location (economic territory, establishment, on the street, at home) and during overtime periods or other periods not dedicated to work (such as lunch breaks or while commuting). (b) “Related hours” is the time spent maintaining, facilitating or enhancing productive activities and should comprise activities such as: cleaning, repairing, preparing, designing, administering or maintaining tools, instruments, processes, procedures or the work location itself; changing time (to put on work clothes); decontamination or washing up time; (ii) purchasing or transporting goods or basic materials to/from the market or source; (iii) waiting for business, customers or patients, as part of working-time arrangements and/or that are explicitly paid for; (iv) on-call duty, whether specified as paid or unpaid, that may occur at the work location (such as health and other essential services) or away from it (for example from home). In the latter case, it is included in hours actually worked depending on the degree to which persons’ activities and movements are restricted. From the moment when called back for duty, the time spent is considered as direct hours of work; (v) travelling between work locations, to reach field projects, fishing areas, assignments, conferences or to meet clients or customers (such as door-to-door vending and itinerant activities); (vi) training and skills enhancement required by the job or for another job in the same economic unit, at or away from the work location. In a paid-employment job this may be given by the employer or provided by other units. (c) “Down time”, as distinct from “direct” and “related hours”, is time when a person in a job cannot work due to machinery or process breakdown, accident, lack of supplies or power or Internet access, etc., but continues to be available for work. This time is unavoidable or inherent to the job and involves temporary interruptions of a technical, material or economic nature. (d) “Resting time” is time spent in short periods of rest, relief or refreshment, including tea, coffee or prayer breaks, generally practised by custom or contract according to established norms and/or national circumstances. Hours actually worked measured within the SNA production boundary excludes time not worked during activities such as: (a) Annual leave, public holidays, sick leave, parental leave or maternity/paternity leave, other leave for personal or family reasons or civic duty. This time not worked is part of absence from work hours (defined in paragraph 17); (b) Commuting time between work and home when no productive activity for the job is performed; for paid employment, even when paid by the employer; (c) Time spent in educational activities distinct from the activities covered in paragraph 11. (2) (b) (vi); for paid employment, even when authorized, paid or provided by the employer; (d) Longer breaks distinguished from short resting time when no productive activity is performed (such as meal breaks or natural repose during long trips); for paid employment, even when paid by the employer. Hours actually worked measured beyond the SNA production boundary includes time spent directly on, and in relation to, productive activities as defined in paragraph 5.(2); down time; and short resting time. (a) “Direct hours” is the time spent carrying out the tasks and duties of the job, which may include: preparing meals, care for members of the household; cleaning and maintaining the house, grounds, clothes and household equipment; purchasing and transporting goods for the household, transporting household members, household accounting and management. (b) “Related hours” is the time spent maintaining, facilitating or enhancing productive activities, and comprises activities such as travelling to meet persons, waiting for persons in one’s care, or training required for the job; (c) “Down time” is less relevant for a job beyond the SNA boundary because substitution of one household task for another can be more immediate. (d) “Resting time” is time spent in short periods of rest, relief or refreshment, including tea, coffee or prayer breaks. Hours actually worked measured beyond the SNA production boundary excludes time not worked during activities such as civic duty and educational activities other than the training covered in paragraph 11. (4) (b).
Hours actually worked is the time spent in a job for the performance of activities that contribute to the production of goods and/or services during a specified short or long reference period.
Hours Actually Worked
Working time comprises the time associated with productive activities and the arrangement of this time during a specified reference period.
Working Time
Compensation of employees is defined as the total remuneration, in cash or in kind, payable by an enterprise to an employee in return for work done by the latter during the accounting period.
Compensation of employees
The sum of persons in employment and in unemployment equals the labour force.
Labour Force
Job or work activity is defined as a set of tasks and duties performed, or meant to be performed, by one person for a single economic unit.
Work Activity
OECD.Handbook on Measuring Digital Platform Employment and Work
Platform employment - work performed for others on or through digital platforms with the intention to generate pay or profit
Platform employment