Preparatory Regional Meeting of Labour Statisticians in support of the 19th ICLS Organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in partnership with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Introduction In October 2013 the International Labour Organization (ILO) will convene the 19 th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The Conference will review and discuss for possible adoption revised draft international standards for employment and work statistics. If adopted, the revised statistical standards will update the current international standards for labour force statistics contained in the Resolution of statistics of the economically active population, employment, unemployment and underemployment and related guidelines. Those standards have been in place since 1982 when the Resolution was adopted by the 13 th ICLS. Following the recommendations of the 18 th ICLS and of the 39 th Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in 2009, the ILO established a Working Group for the Advancement of Employment and Unemployment Statistics (WG). The main purpose of the WG has been to provide advice to the ILO on the review and update of the standards as well as on the development of a set of measures of labour underutilization to supplement the unemployment rate. Its members are experts in labour statistics from all regions of the World. With the advice of the WG the following milestones have been achieved: (1) identification of the priority issues for review and update, (2) agreement on a general approach to update the conceptual framework of employment and work statistics, and (3) development of a number of specific proposals to improve the guidelines for measurement of the labour force. To widen the consultation process and thereby enhance participation in the 19 th ICLS, the ILO, in collaboration with its regional partners is organizing Preparatory Regional Meetings of Labour Statisticians in all major regions of the world. Date and venue This Preparatory Regional Meeting for countries of Europe and Central Asia is scheduled to take place from 9 to 11 July, 2012 at the OECD Conference Centre, Room CC6, Paris, France. Purpose and objectives The main purpose of the Preparatory Regional Meeting is to bring the consultation and technical discussions to countries in Europe and Central Asia, to ensure that the revised draft standards to be prepared by the ILO adequately reflect the labour markets and labour force data priorities of countries in the region. 1
Specifically the meeting will: Inform participants about the review process in preparation for the 19 th ICLS; Present the current proposals for the review and update of the international standards of statistics of the economically active population, employment, unemployment and underemployment ; and Gather feedback and promote discussion among participants to generate new ideas and further refinements to the proposed draft revisions. Agenda and format of the meeting The meeting is structured into 11 substantive sessions to address the following topics: Conceptual framework for employment and work statistics Operational framework to measure the labour force Employment Unemployment Persons not in the labour force Measures to supplement the unemployment rate Other forms of work Data collection programmes Sources of employment and work statistics Communication and dissemination guidelines In general, the substantive sessions will cover: (1) issues in the current standards identified for review and update, (2) review of country practices implementing the current standards (regional and global), (3) ILO draft proposals to update the standards developed in consultation with the WG. Prior to the meeting, participants will be invited to act as discussants for topics. The main objective is to reflect on the relevance, feasibility and applicability to national realities of the proposals for update presented by the ILO, in order to promote subsequent discussion in plenary sessions. Official languages and documentation The official languages of the meeting are English and Russian. There will be simultaneous interpretation into and from English and Russian. To the extent possible, the background documents to the meeting will be made available on the website of the meeting at: http://www.ilo.org/19thicls. 2
Preparatory Regional Meeting of Labour Statisticians in support of the 19th ICLS 9-11 July 2012, OECD Conference Centre, Room CC6, Paris, France Day 1 8:00 8:45 am 9:00 9:30 am Arrival and Registration Draft Agenda Opening Ceremony -Paul Schreyer, Deputy Director, OECD Statistics Directorate -Mustafa Hakki Ozel, Chief, Standards and Surveys Unit, ILO Department of Statistics 9:30 9:50 am CONTEXTUAL SESSION Objectives of the meeting and expectations from participants 19 th ICLS process and scope of review 9:50-10:20 am Coffee break (30 min) SESSION 1 Chair: Sylvie Le Minez, INSEE France 10:20 11:00 am Conceptual framework for labour force and work statistics Productive activities, jobs and persons Classification of persons in the framework 11:00 11:15 am 11:15-11:30 am Invited discussant: Kieran Walsh, CSO Ireland Invited discussant: Zinaida Ryzhikova, ROSSTAT Russia 11:30 12:30 pm SESSION 2 Chair: Jean Ries, STATEC Luxembourg 1:30 2:15 pm Operational framework to measure the Labour force Reference populations Age thresholds Short and long reference periods of measurement 2:30 2:45 pm Invited discussant: Miguel Angel Garcia Martinez, INE Spain Invited discussant: Vladimir Ganta, NBS Moldova 2:45 3:15 pm SESSION 3 Chair: Bozidar Popovic, Statistical Office of Montenegro Montenegro 3:30 4:00 pm Employment Operational definition Absences from employment Treatment of specific groups 4:00 4:15 pm 4:15 4:30 pm Invited discussant: Irena Svetin, Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia Slovenia Invited discussant: Elena Sevashko, National Statistical Committee Belarus 4:30 5:00 pm 3
Day 2 9:00 9:30 am 9:30 9:45 am 9:45 10:00 am 10:00 10:30 am SESSION 4 Chair: Konstantin Laykam, ROSSTAT Russia Unemployment Operational definition and reference periods Active job search Availability for work Treatment of specific groups Invited discussant: Alla Solop, State Statistics Service Ukraine Invited discussant: Violeta Krsteva, State Statistical Office Macedonia 10:30 10:45 am Coffee break (15 min) SESSION 5 Chair: Astrid Depickere, Statistics Belgium Belgium 10:45-11:15 am Persons not in the labour force Operational definition Classifications 11:15-11:45 am 11:45-12:00 am 12:00-12:30 pm Invited discussant: Martijn Souren, Statistics Netherlands The Netherlands Invited discussant: Liuksina Tekeeva, National Statistical Committee Kyrgyzstan Plenary discussion SESSION 6 Chair: Natalya Belonossova, Agency of Statistics Kazakhstan 1:30 2:00 pm Measures to supplement the unemployment rate Objectives, scope and relation with other indicator sets Potential components, type of measures, units and denominators Other relevant measures 2:00 2:15 pm 2:30 3:15 pm Invited discussant: Erzsébet Eperjesi Lindnerné, Hungarian Statistical Office Hungary Invited discussant: Mark Feldman, CBS Israel SESSION 7 Chair: Muraku Erkand, Institute of Statistics Albania 3:30 4:00 pm Other forms of work: Work by volunteers, trainees, apprentices and interns Scope, definitions and measurement 4:00 4:15 pm 4:15 4:30 pm Invited discussant: Christian Wingerter, DESTATIS Germany Invited discussant: Narmina Nahmadova, State Statistical Committee Azerbaijan 4:30 5:00 pm 4
Day 3 9:00 9:30 am 9:30 9:45 am 9:45 10:00 am SESSION 8 Chair: Nicolas Rogister Statistics Belgium Belgium Other forms of work: Work by producers of goods and services for own final use Scope, definitions and measurement Invited discussant: Federica Pintaldi, ISTAT Italy Invited discussant: TBC 10:00 10:30 am 10:30 10:45 am Coffee break (15 min) SESSION 9 Chair: Alena Kukharevich, National Statistical Committee Belarus 10:45 11:15 am Data collection programmes Current, non-current and mechanisms to support dynamic labour force measures 11:15 11:30 am 11:30 11:45 am Invited discussant: Nicholas Palmer, ONS United Kingdom Invited discussant: Olivier Marchand, INSEE France 11:45 12:30 pm SESSION 10 Chair: Peter Beijron, Statistics Sweden Sweden 1:30 1:45 pm Sources of labour force and work statistics Relevance and applicability of current standards Proposals for revised standards 1:45 2:00 pm 2:00 2:15 pm 2:30 3:00 pm 3:00 3:15 pm Invited discussant: Larus Blondal, Statistics Iceland Iceland Invited discussant: Sven Egmose, Statistics Denmark Denmark Invited discussant: Helge Naesheim, Statistics Norway Norway SESSION 11 Chair: Elisa Benes, ILO Department of Statistics Communication and dissemination guidelines 3:30 4:00 pm 4:00 4:30 pm 4:30 5:00 pm PANEL: Reflections on main outcomes and way forward -Paul Schreyer, OECD Statistics Directorate -Nicola Massarelli, EUROSTAT -Irina Zbarskaya, CISSTAT -Mustafa Hakki Ozel, ILO CLOSING 5