ILO and Eurostat Stress Importance of Comprehensive Statistics in Addressing New Employment Realities

The pace and nature of changes in the world of work are unprecedented, with digital, environmental, and demographic shifts driving rapid transformations.

At a global conference on measuring new forms of employment, jointly organized by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), the ILO emphasized the need for comprehensive and meaningful statistics to describe and address the evolving work environment driven by digital, environmental, and demographic shifts.

The pace and nature of changes in the world of work are unprecedented, with digital, environmental, and demographic shifts driving rapid transformations. These shifts are altering the nature of work and its organization, while traditional employment relationships are eroding quickly.

“Against this backdrop, the availability of comprehensive, meaningful, and reliable statistics is of utmost importance,” stated Manuela Tomei, ILO Assistant Director-General for Governance, Rights, and Dialogue. “They allow us to better understand changing work realities and monitor developments over time, facilitating better-informed policy action. Good-quality data are essential to improving working conditions, enhancing worker well-being, and upholding labour rights.”

Since 2013, new statistical standards have promoted a better understanding of paid and unpaid work, working relationships, and the informal economy. This includes a new statistical standard concerning work, employment, and labour underutilization, which recognizes unpaid care work as legitimate work.

“This standard was revolutionary and has given further impetus and legitimacy to policies facilitating a more even distribution of unpaid care work within and between families and the State through greater investments in public policies for childcare and elderly care,” said Tomei.

She also highlighted the alignment between the new statistical standard on informality and ILO Recommendation No. 204 on transitioning from the informal to the formal economy. Both standards use the same definition of informality and cover jobs, work activities, economic units, and the contribution of informal activities to GDP.

However, significant data gaps remain, as current data are insufficient to accurately track the changing world of work. “There are almost no authoritative data available to inform discussions on the impact of artificial intelligence and algorithmic management. To fully harness their potential benefits, we must understand their implications for workers. High-quality data is vital for the quality of these debates,” Tomei added.

Additionally, data is not always sufficiently embedded in policymaking, sometimes due to a lack of clarity in what is being measured and why.