China

1.Series

Title:

Unemployment statistics system.

Starting year:

1980.

2.Agency making the initial registrations of unemployed persons

Name of the agency:

Local labour offices in subdistrict office, or employment service centre.

Type of agency:

Public service under local authorities.

Location of the local offices making the registrations:

In all parts of the country at local level.

Type of services provided/administered by the agency:

Assisting job-seekers to find jobs;

Assisting job-seekers to establish their own business;

Assisting employers to find workers;

Vocational guidance;

Job-related training;

Paying unemployment compensation;

Other: keeping personal records for the unemployed.

Percentage of job-seekers seeking work through the agency:

25%.

3.The following information is registered about a person:

Name;

Sex;

Social security number (or similar identification number also used by other agencies);

Address of usual residence;

Date of birth;

Citizenship.

Nationality/ethnic group;

Educational/vocational attainment, with 8 categories distinguished. No links to ISCED have been established;

Current/past activity status;

Type of work (occupation) of past or present job; links to ISCO 88 have been established (sub-major and major groups level);

Type of work (occupation) of job sought. Links to ISCO-88 have been established (sub-major and major groups level);

Name and address of present or previous employer or work place;

Type of business (industry) of present/previous employer/workplace, with 16 groups distinguished. No links to ISIC, rev.3 have been established;

Previous registrations with the agency/service.

4.Criteria used for inclusion of a person in the registers (R) and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

Being without work (R) and (S);

Seeking work (R) and (S);

Availability for work (R) and (S);

Age: lower limit: 16 years; upper limit: 60 years for men, 55 years for women; (R) and (S); Being resident in the country (R) and (S);

Previously employed (S).

5.Criteria used for exclusion of a person from the registers (R) and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

Death (R) and (S);

Taking up residency abroad (R) and (S);

Commencement of a (new) job (R) and (S);

Commencement of military service (R) and (S);

End of entitlement to receive unemployment compensation (R) and (S);

Receipt of a pension (R) and (S);

Inability to work (R) and (S).

6.Definition of unemployed persons used for the statistics

Urban registered unemployment refers to the non-agricultural population, who are of working age (16 years to retirement age), available to work and have registered in the local employment service agencies for seeking a job. The following persons are excluded: (i) students; (ii) those who are above retirement age (60 for men and 55 for women) or who are under retirement age but have already retired/resigned; (iii) disabled with partial work capacity receiving a special settlement.

7.Updating of the registers

No information is available concerning the updating of the registers.

8.Unemployment rates

Statistics from the registers are used to obtain unemployment rates.

The sources of data on employed persons who are part of the denominator of the unemployment rates are Establishment surveys, Social Security register, Employment register and Registration of industrial and commercial enterprises.

Definition of employed persons for this purpose:

Employment refers to the total number of persons engaged in social economic activities that generate income.

9.Type of statistics of unemployed persons produced

Series 1:

Reference period:

Quarter.

Frequency of production:

Quarterly.

Descriptive variables used:

Sex;

Age;

Educational level;

Occupation;

Industry;

Geographic characteristics.

Form of publication:

On paper, for general audience;

Machine-readable form, on request;

On a website.

Title of the publication:

China Labour Statistical Yearbook.

Series 2:

Reference period:

Year.

Frequency of production:

Half-yearly.

Descriptive variables used:

Sex;

Age;

Educational level;

Occupation;

Industry;

Geographic characteristics.

Form of publication:

On paper, for general audience;

Machine-readable form, on request;

On a website.

Title of the publication:

China Labour Statistical Yearbook.

Series 3:

Reference period:

Year.

Frequency of production:

Yearly.

Descriptive variables used:

Sex;

Age;

Educational level;

Occupation;

Industry;

Geographic characteristics.

Form of publication:

On paper, for general audience;

Machine-readable form, on request;

On a website.

Title of the publication:

China Labour Statistical Yearbook.

10.Methodological information about the statistics

Form of release:

On paper, for general audience;

In machine-readable form, on request;

On a website.

Agencies responsible for the release:

National Bureau of Statistics; Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

11.Comparisons with unemployment statistics from other sources

Comparisons have been made with unemployment statistics from the Population Census and from other sources.

Frequency of the comparisons:

Regularly when the statistics are published (latest year: 2001).

Publication of the methodology/results of the comparisons:

These have not been published.

12.Major changes since the start of the statistics

Major changes in legislation, capacity of the agency and/or administrative procedures took place in 1986, 1990 and 1995. The resulting changes in the statistics have not been estimated.