The present volume of Statistical Sources and Methods provides 81 methodological descriptions of statistics of employment, unemployment, hours of work and wages obtained from administrative records and related sources in respect of 68 countries or territories, as published in the ILO Bulletin of Labour Statistics and Year Book of Labour Statistics. It is a revised, enlarged and updated version of the corresponding parts of the Technical Guide, Vol. II - Employment, Unemployment, Hours of Work, Wages - issued in 1980.

The volume has two main purposes: (i) to provide basic information on the different administrative sources and methods used by countries to compile such statistics of employment, unemployment, hours of work and wages, which are published by the ILO, and; (ii) to indicate the differences between the various national series of statistics from these sources as regards their coverage, periodicity, definitions and methods of data collection, evaluation, adjustment, etc.

The methodological descriptions presented in this volume were prepared on the basis of replies from national ministries of labour or national statistical offices to a specifically designed questionnaire. National statistical publications available in the ILO were also consulted. Each description was submitted to the country concerned for comments, which were taken into account if received within the publication programme limits. In cases where information was not available on time, the descriptions contained in the 1980 Technical Guide were used.

This volume has been separated into two parts. The first part covers unemployment statistics. The second part covers statistics on employment, hours of work and wages. Each part contains structured descriptions which are presented using standard headings in order to facilitate comparisons of the various characteristics. The standard headings, although not identical in the two parts, have been kept as similar as the treatment of the different subjects permits. The respective headings and their contents are described in detail at the beginning of each part.