Explanatory Notes on Main Statistical Indicators

Total Labor Force comprises people ages 15 and older who meet the International Labour Organization definition of the economically active population: all people who supply labor for the production of goods and services during a specified period. It includes both the employed and the unemployed. While national practices vary in the treatment of such groups as the armed forces and seasonal or part-time workers, in general the labor force includes the armed forces, the unemployed, and first-time job-seekers, but excludes homemakers and other unpaid caregivers and workers in the informal sector.

Employment comprise all persons above a specific age who during a specified brief period, either one week or one day, were in the following categories:

(1)paid employment: ① at work: persons who during the reference period performed some work for wage or salary, in cash or in kind; ② with a job but not at work: persons who, having already worked in their present job, were temporarily not at work during the reference period and had a formal attachment to their job. This formal job attachment should be determined in the light of national circumstance, according to one or more of the following criteria: 1) the continued receipt of wage or salary; 2) an assurance of return to work following the end of the contingency, or an agreement as to the data of return; 3) the elapsed duration of absence from the job which, wherever relevant, may be that duration for which workers can receive compensation benefits without obligations to accept other jobs.

(2)self-employment: ① at work: person who during the reference period performed some work for profit or family gain, in cash or in kind; ② with an enterprise but not at work: persons with an enterprise, which may be a business enterprise, a farm or a service undertaking ,who were temporarily not at work during the reference period for any specific reason.

Unemployment comprises all persons above a specified age who during the reference period were: (1) Without works were not in paid employment or self-employment; (2) Currently available for work were available for paid employment or self-employment during the reference period; (3) Seeking work had taken specific steps in a specified reference period to seek paid employment or self-employment. The specific steps may include registration at a pubic or private employment exchange; application to employers; checking at worksites, farms, factory gates, market or other assembly places; placing or answering newspaper advertisement; seeking assistance of friends or relatives; looking for land, building, machinery or equipment to establish own enterprise; arranging for financial resources; applying for permits and licenses, etc.

Unemployment Rate illustrates the relative severity of unemployment. These rates are calculated by relating the number of persons in the given group who are unemployed during the reference period (usually a particular day or a given week) to the total of employed and unemployed persons in the group at the same date.

Earnings 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 exclude employers' contribution 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.

Labour Cost is the cost incurred by the employer in the employment of labour. The statistical 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.