Report of the 18Th International Labour
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ICLS/18/2008/IV/FINAL INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION Report of the Conference 18th International Conference of Labour Statisticians Geneva, 24 November–5 December 2008 INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE GENEVA Copyright © International Labour Organization 2009 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to ILO Publications (Rights and Permissions), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications. 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Printed by the International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland Contents Page Report of the discussion .......................................................................................................... 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Convocation and agenda ..................................................................................... 1 Organization of the Conference .......................................................................... 1 Decisions of the Conference ............................................................................... 2 Closing of the Conference .................................................................................. 3 Conference proceedings .......................................................................................................... 4 I. General report ..................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 1. Statistical work of the ILO during the period 2004–08 ................. 4 Chapter 2. Updating the International Standard Classification of Occupations ........................................................ 10 Chapter 3. Measuring and monitoring decent work ........................................ 11 Annex Report of the Working Group on the Measurement of Decent Work .......................................... 12 Chapter 4. Indicators of labour underutilization .............................................. 14 Annex. Report of the Working Group on Indicators of Labour Underutilization ................................................................ 15 Chapter 5. Measurement of volunteer work .................................................... 17 Annex. Report of the Working Group on the Measurement of Volunteer Work ................................................................ 18 Chapter 6. Future work of the ILO in labour statistics (2009–13) .................. 20 II. Measurement of working time ............................................................................ 22 Annex. Report of the Committee on the Measurement of Working Time ........ 25 III. Child labour statistics ......................................................................................... 31 Annex. Report of the Committee on Child Labour Statistics ............................ 34 Seminar on Employment and unemployment: Revisiting the relevance and conceptual basis of the statistics ......................................................................... 37 Appendices I. Text of resolutions adopted by the Conference ............................................................ 39 Resolution I .................................................................................................................. 41 Resolution II ................................................................................................................. 56 Resolution III ................................................................................................................ 67 Resolution IV ................................................................................................................ 68 Resolution V ................................................................................................................. 69 Resolution VI ................................................................................................................ 70 II. Participants and secretariat of the Conference .............................................................. 71 ICLS-R-[2008-12-0006-6]-En.doc/v3 iii Report of the discussion Introduction Convocation and agenda 1. At its 300th Session (Geneva, November 2007), the Governing Body of the International Labour Office authorized the Office to convene the 18th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) to meet in Geneva from 24 November to 5 December 2008. The main purposes of the Conference were to discuss and adopt international standards in the field of labour statistics and provide guidelines for future work. The following items were placed on the agenda of the 18th ICLS: I. General discussion on a number of topics (including updating the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08), measurement of decent work, indicators of labour underutilization, statistics on volunteer work, data compilation and dissemination by the ILO, review of functions and organization of the ICLS). II. Measurement of working time. III. Child labour statistics. 2. Reports covering each of these items were prepared by the Office for submission to the Conference and circulated to delegates in advance of the meeting. Organization of the Conference 3. The Conference opened on Monday, 24 November 2008, and was attended by delegates from 110 member States, by ten Employer and seven Worker representatives nominated by the Governing Body and by 13 representatives of international governmental and non-governmental organizations. In all, there were 260 participants. 4. The Director of the ILO Policy Integration and Statistics Department, Mr S. Pursey, presented an opening statement on behalf of the Director-General, Mr J. Somavia. Mr Pursey welcomed all participants to the ILO and thanked the United Kingdom Department for International Development, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the United Nations Statistics Division and the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the Twenty-First Century (PARIS21) for their financial support for the participation of some delegates. 5. Mr Pursey emphasized the particular leadership responsibility of this ICLS at a time of great economic and social uncertainty. Economic and financial imbalances had reached a tipping point and threatened a long and deep world recession with high social costs, particularly with respect to lost employment and labour income. Current measures, such as gross domestic product and rates of employment and unemployment, were increasingly being questioned as complete measures of progress. The ILO Decent Work Agenda offered a response to the crisis through the creation of opportunities for all to work in conditions of freedom, dignity, equity and security. The establishment of appropriate indicators or statistics was a vital element of reaching the ILO’s goal of strengthening its constituents’ capacities to meet the challenges of creating decent work for all. He illustrated the challenges faced by the Conference by citing a number of examples from the agenda of the Conference including: the measurement of working time; statistics on child labour; ICLS-R-[2008-12-0006-6]-En.doc/v3 1 indicators relevant to the Millennium Development Goal target of full and productive employment and decent work for all; the need for new measures of labour underutilization and the development of statistical capacity in developing countries. He looked forward to receiving the guidance of the Conference on these important