This is a revised and enlarged version of Sources and Methods: Labour statistics (formerly Statistical Sources and Methods), Volume 2: Employment, wages, hours of work and labour cost (establishment surveys), first published in 1987. Statistical series of labour cost and compensation of employees are described here for the first time. The other published volumes of the series are:

Volume 1, Consumer price indices (Geneva, 1992, third edition).
Volume 3, Economically active population, employment, unemployment and hours of work (household surveys) (Geneva, 1990, second edition).
Volume 4, Employment, unemployment, wages and hours of work (administrative records and related sources) (Geneva, 1989).
Volume 5, Total and economically active population, employment and unemployment (population censuses) (Geneva, 1990).
Volume 6, Household income and expenditure surveys (Geneva, 1994).
Volume 7, Strikes and lockouts (Geneva, 1993).

Further topics to be covered by the series include occupational injuries and diseases, occupational wages and hours of work and retail food prices (ILO October Inquiry).

The purpose of these volumes is to document national practices used in the collection of various types of labour statistics, in order to assist the users of these statistics in evaluating their quality and comparability, and their suitability for particular needs. Sources and Methods: Labour statistics can consequently be seen as companion volumes to the various chapters of the ILO Yearbook of Labour Statistics and Bulletin of Labour Statistics.

The methodological descriptions presented in this volume cover establishment or enterprise surveys, the main objective of which is either to collect data on topics relating to labour, such as employment, wages, hours of work and labour cost, or to collect data on inputs, costs, production, etc., by means of industrial or commercial surveys and censuses, labour statistics (mainly employment and compensation of employees) being then a by-product of these surveys. Information about new developments, additional descriptions and corrections received in the ILO after July 1995 will be introduced in the database, and can be supplied by the ILO Department of Statistics on request.