Labor Market Information: Household Labor Force 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 households. "Household" data pertain to individuals and relate to where they reside. Household labor force surveys allow for the collection of comprehensive demographic data on the labor force such as age, sex, race, family relationship, marital status, occupation, and industry attachment. Household labor force surveys can also provide important information about members of the population who are not in the labor force.

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 labor force surveys

Understanding components of the population

• Who is in the labor force? Who is not in the labor force?
• Employment status: Who is employed? Who is unemployed?
• Employment to population ratio
• Labor force participation rate
• Unemployment rate

Designing and conducting household labor force 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
• Analysis by demographic characteristics of the labor force
• Studying subgroups of the population or focusing on particular topics
• Graphical analysis and presentation of data

Household labor force survey data, along with data from other sources, are used to report on the following SDG indicators:

• Indicator 5.4.1: Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location
• Indicator 8.5.1: Average hourly earnings of female and male employees, by occupation, age and persons with disabilities
• Indicator 8.5.2: Unemployment rate, by sex, age and persons with disabilities
• Indicator 8.6.1: Proportion of youth (aged 15–24 years) not in education, employment or training
• Indicator 9.2.2: Manufacturing employment as a proportion of total employment