Labor Market Information: Business Establishment Surveys

Labor market information is essential for tracking and analyzing the economy of a country. National and local governments need labor market information to reduce unemployment, generate employment, and plan training programs to meet the needs of industry. It is also used in determining future workforce training needs, identifying the availability of labor, ascertaining prevailing wage rates, and exploring potential markets. Labor market information is valuable to local and regional planning agencies as well as industries and businesses looking for site locations, seeking ways of attracting and retaining skilled workers, or assessing the scope and size of potential markets. Labor unions find this information useful for determining comparable wage and compensation levels, local working conditions, and training needs. Investors, educators, workers, and job seekers also benefit from timely and reliable labor market information to help them make sound decisions.

This seminar will show participants how to develop labor market information using data collected from business establishments. A business establishment survey provides detailed data on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on payrolls. Establishment surveys can provide detailed data by industry and occupation, which are vital to understanding the dispersion of jobs in a country's economy.

Participants are encouraged to bring with them the following materials for use in discussions and workshops: 1) methodological documentation on how data related to the seminar topic are collected in their home countries; 2) questionnaires used in their countries for obtaining those data; and 3) sample publications of those data.

The seminar includes discussions on the following topics:

Introduction to labor markets

What they are and how they are defined
Reasons for conducting business establishment surveys
Sources of information

Understanding components of labor market information

Labor force supply and demand
Business employment dynamics
Employment by industry and occupation
Hours of work
Employee wages, earnings, and benefits

Designing and conducting business establishment surveys

Concepts and definitions
Survey design
Questionnaire design
Sampling
Data collection
Weighting
Data validation
Estimation procedures
Data processing and tabulation

Data analysis and dissemination

Analysis by sector, industry, and occupation
Graphical analysis and presentation of data

Business establishment survey data, along with data from other sources, are used to report on the following SDG indicators:

Indicator 8.2.1: Annual growth rate of real GDP per employed person
Indicator 9.2.2: Manufacturing employment as a proportion of total employment

Target Audience

This seminar is designed for economists, statisticians, researchers, analysts, and other professionals working with labor market information in national statistical programs. Participants should have an elementary knowledge of statistics and some experience in analyzing labor or economic data.

Learning Objectives

To develop participants' capability to produce and analyze labor market information collected from business establishments by:

Defining labor market information
Discussing techniques for using data from administrative sources
Presenting methodologies for designing and conducting surveys of business establishments
Analyzing data on the characteristics of the labor force
Combining data from a variety of sources to understand the labor market as a whole

For additional information about this and other BLS international training programs, please visit the BLS Division of International Technical Cooperation (ITC) website or contact ITC staff at ITCinfo@bls.gov.