Labour Statistics For A Market Economy: Challenges And Solutions In The Transition Countries Of Central And Eastern Europe And The Former Soviet Union

This pioneering work gives an insight into the daily work of the national statistical institutions of the old command economies in their endeavour to meet the challenge of transition to a market-oriented system of labour statistics variables and indicators. Distinct from any other publication with statistics on Central and East European countries and the former Soviet Union, it reveals why and how new statistics are being collected and what still has to be done in order to make their national data compatible with the rest of the world. The authors discuss the problems involved in the measurement of employment (in both the state and the private sectors) and unemployment, the collection of reliable wage statistics, and the development of new economic classifications in line with those internationally recognized and adopted. They also make a number of recommendations on how to adapt ILO international standards in order to meet the above needs.

The International Labour Office is the moving force behind the adoption of the Labour Force Survey in Western countries as the only reliable means of gathering information about trends in employment and unemployment, and on pay. The countries of East-Central Europe and the former USSR have recognized their need of such statistiics and turned to the ILO to help them set up systems to provide data required by decision makers. This pioneering work shows how the old "command" economies are setting up brand new systems to classify occupations, to measure employment and unemployment, and to collect information on wages and labour costs, which will be useful to students of the area and essential for statisticians world-wide concerned with the challenge of instigating an entirely new statistical service.