Integrating a gender perspective
in work and labour market statistics
Elisa Benes, ILO Department of Statistics
email contact: benes@ilo.org
Pacific Region Workshops on: Gender Statistics
4 – 6 August 2014, Nadi, Fiji
What the statistics show…
TOTAL
Men
Women
ILO Department of Statistics
URBAN
Men Women
RURAL
Men Women
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Gender mainstreaming in work statistics
-What does it mean?
Process of evaluating & improving existing data
to enhance its capacity to reflect
differences & similarities
between women & men in
the world of work
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How to make work statistics
more gender relevant?
A. Ensure comprehensive coverage of gender issues
– Producing data disaggregated by sex is not enough!
– Identify gender issues in the world of work
– Identify available data sources & gaps
B. Improve quality of work statistics from a gender perspective
– Frameworks, concepts, definitions that recognize differences
– Methods that reduce underreporting & misclassification
C. Facilitate understanding of gender differences
– Highlight gender issues in presentation of data
– Often requires detailed disaggregation to identify differences
A. Ensure comprehensive coverage
Scope & objectives of work statistics
Identify gender issues
Identify data needs to address gender issues
Assess existing sources of data
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Work & Labour market statistics:
Scope and objectives (19th ICLS, 2013)
• Describe and monitor labour markets
– Participation in employment, characteristics, working conditions
– Extent of underutilization, labour market access and integration
• Measure & participation in all forms of work (paid & unpaid)
– Contribution to economy (national accounts / satellite accounts)
– Contribution to household livelihoods and wellbeing
• Assess differences in participation
– Urban / rural , women / men, children / youth / adults, etc.
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Identify gender issues
-Levels & patterns of work and
labour market participation
-Characteristics of the work
-Working conditions
-Contributions & returns from work
Data needs
Forms of work performed (paid & unpaid)
Labour force status
Barriers to labour force entry
Occupation, industry, employment status
Union membership
Occupational injuries
Earnings, working time, benefits, social security
Education
Family constraints
Intra-household & gender roles
Community expectations
Access to physical & financial assets
Discrimination on the job market
And in the workplace
Personal & context variables
-Age, sex, education, marital status
-Family constraints (presence of children by age
groups, other dependent members, child care…)
-Area context (urban /rural, regions)
-Personal ownership of assets (land, livestock)
-Employment experience, seniority
Gender differences
Identify gender issues:
4 dimensions
1. Forms of work
(paid & unpaid)
carried out
2. Labour market
access / exit
3. Characteristics
and conditions
of work
4. Contributions
and returns
for their work
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1. Forms of work (paid & unpaid)
carried out
• Do they engage in work for pay or profit?
– Employment
• Do they provide unpaid household services?
– Own-use providers of services
• Do they engage in subsistence agriculture, fishing?
– Own-use producers of goods, subsistence foodstuff
producers
• Do they participate in unpaid community / village work?
– Volunteer work
Illustration: Forms of work
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2. Labour market access
• Do they have work for pay / profit ?
– Employment
• Do they look / are available for work for pay / profit?
– Unemployment
• Do they work for pay /profit or look for work?
– Labour force
• Do they enter and exit the labour market?
– Labour turnover, life cycle patterns
Illustration: Unemployment rate by
sex and age group
TOTAL
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3. Characteristics & conditions
of their work
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Tasks & duties in their job - occupations
Kind of goods / services produced - industries
Employment relationship - status in employment
Security and stability – contract type, duration
Type of employer - institutional sector
Type of establishment –formal, informal, household
Type of place where they work - place of work
Hazardousness of their work – occupational injuries, illnesses
Voice and representation– union density, collective agreements
Benefits provided -social security coverage, maternity leave 15
Illustration: Occupations with highest
concentration of women / men
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4. Contributions & returns for their work
• Working time
– Hours worked, working time arrangements
• Income from employment
–
–
–
–
Wages, salaries, commissions, tips
Profits / losses
Overtime payments, other regular & irregular payments
Social security benefits
• Contribution to households, community & economy
– Value of production for own-final use
– Value of paid and unpaid work to national production & satellite
accounts
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Illustration: time spent
on paid and unpaid work
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Official sources of work statistics
Different sources exist, with different purposes
– Population and housing census
– Household surveys
– Labour force surveys (LFS)
– Household income & expenditure surveys (HIES)
– Time-use surveys (TUS)
– Establishment-based censuses & surveys
– Administrative records
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Improve quality of work statistics
Frameworks, concepts, definitions that recognize gender differences
Methods that reduce underreporting & misclassification
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New work statistics framework
(Resolution I, 19th ICLS, 2013)
• Replaces previous international statistical standards on
– Economically active population, employment, unemployment,
underemployment (13th ICLS, 1982)
• To become the reference framework
– For work and labour market statistics in decades to come
• Address gender bias in recognition of ALL work (paid and unpaid)
– Make visible participation patterns & quantify contributions
• Inform policies targeting different forms of work, paid & unpaid
– Working conditions, remuneration, social protection, work life
balance, social inclusion & cohesion
• Contribute to post 2015 development agenda
– Inclusive, sustainable development policies, job growth
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Work
1st international statistical definition (I)
“Any activity performed
by persons of any sex and age
to produce goods or provide services
for use by others or for own use”
Para 6,Resol I. (19th ICLS, 2013)
Recognizes ALL productive activities as Work
Whether formal, informal, legal, illegal
Linked to General production boundary
Concept for reference purposes
ILO Department ofNote:
Statistics WORK ≠ Employment
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“Work” and the SNA
Activities
Non-productive
activities
Productive activities
Households
Self-care
Sleeping
Learning
Own-recreation
Begging
producing for own final use
Services
Goods
Non-market units
Government, Non-profit institutions
Services
Goods
Market units
Incorporated, unincorporated
Services
Goods
Previous activity scope for “employment”
New concept of “Work” == productive activities
SNA
General
production production
boundary boundary
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Forms of Work (III): 5 distinguished
By main intended destination & transaction type
Work
(i.e. ALL activities to produce goods and services)
For own final use
For use by others (i.e. other units)
(by households)
For remuneration (i.e. for pay or profit)
Own-use
production
work
Services
Goods
ILO Department of Statistics
Employment
(work for pay or profit)
Services
Goods
Without remuneration
Unpaid
trainee
work
S
G
Other work
activities
(e.g. unpaid
compulsory
work)
S
G
Volunteer
work
G
S
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Usefulness of new framework
1. Multiple activities of women & men
2. Household allocation of labour,
contribution to livelihoods
3. Assessment of labour market participation
& integration by persons in forms of work
other than employment
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Illustration: Participation of WAP
in different forms of work (%)
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Illustration: Own use providers of services
by sex and activity cluster (%WAP)
Most unpaid
household
services
predominantly
performed by
women, except
for household
repairs
Source: ILO calculations based on national data (LFS-CWIQ, 2010)
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Classifications of the
Working Age Population
• By Labour force status
– For labour market monitoring
– Assessed in a short reference period
– Based on activity principle, 1-hr criterion, priority rule
• By Main form of work
– For social analysis
– As self-declared
New labour force status classification
• Classify the population into 3 mutually exclusive & exhaustive groups
• Based on activity principle, priority rule & 1 hour criterion
Total population
Min. age
threshold
Employed
(for pay / profit)
Outside
Unemployed Labour
Force
Labour force
Snap-shot picture of labour market activity at a point in time
Focuses on work transacted for pay or profit
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Changes in terminology
-Removing gender bias in language
• Labour force = Employed + Unemployed
(for pay / profit)
(without employment + seeking + available)
– No longer “economically / currently active population”
• Outside labour force
– No longer “economically inactive population”
– No longer includes population below minimum age
-ALL forms of work are productive & contribute to the economy
-Persons outside labour force may be engaged in other forms of work
-Children may be engaged in work, including in child labour
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Labour underutilization
-New indicators that recognize other barriers to employment
“Refers to mismatches between labour supply and demand,
which translate into an unmet need for employment among the population”
Para 40,Resol I. (19th ICLS, 2013)
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Labour underutilization
Improved labour market monitoring across contexts/groups
Working age population
Labour force
Employed
(for pay/profit)
Time-related
underemployed
Outside the labour force
Unemployed
Labour market attachment
Potential
Labour Force
-seeking, not available
-available, not seeking
Labour underutilization
(unmet need for employment)
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Want employment
but not seeking,
not available
Do not want
employment
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LU1-LU4: Composite measures
of labour underutilization
LU4
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Illustration:
Old and new indicators
OLD
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NEW
43
Illustration:
Willing non-job seekers
Percentage of willing non-job seekers among persons
outside the labour force (%)
Source: Enquête nationale sur l’Emploi, Morocco 2012
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Classification by Main reason
for not being in labour market
• Personal reasons
– Own illness, disability
– Studies, training
• Family related reasons
– Pregnancy, family or household responsibilities
– Refusal by family
Social barriers
• Labour market reasons
–
–
–
–
Past failure in finding a job, gave up looking for jobs
Lack of experience, qualifications or jobs matching skills
Lack of jobs in the area
Considered too young or too old by prospective employers
Discouragement
• Lack of infrastructure
– No roads, transport, employment services in the area
• Other sources of income
– Pensions, rents
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Issues in measurement
To reduce underreporting & misclassification
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Reduce gender biases in data collection
• Instrument design
– Add probes (questions) and examples to better capture activities likely to be
underreported (secondary, casual, part/-time self-employment jobs)
– Use reference periods that take account of different gender roles
• Field operations
– Interviewer training (raise awareness of concepts, activities likely to go unreported,
social expectations & roles, multiple activities of women)
– Mixed teams of interviewers (men / women)
– Avoid proxy responses, reduce interviewer interpretation by providing full questions
to be read verbatim
• Data processing, coding
– Collect detailed information for industry and occupation
– Reduce coding based on assumptions of typical gendered occupations
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Suggested activities for
gender units and gender focal points
• Review questionnaires, manuals & training for surveys and censuses:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Work topics covered (main topics + causal factors)
Use of additional questions on “WHY – not working, not seeking work etc.)
Use of probing questions, activity lists / sketches
Examples given in the manuals (should be free of gender bias)
Degree of details used in classifications
Coverage of gender aspects in the training
• Discuss data quality with survey/census team
• Get involved in data quality assessments at the end of data collection
• Careful assessment of data for adequate interpretation
Facilitate understanding of gender
differences
Highlight gender issues in presentation of data
Often requires detailed disaggregation to identify differences
ILO Department of Statistics
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Basic table for gender analysis
Title
Women
N
%
Men
N
Sex distribution
%
%W
%M
A
B
C
Total
100
100
Source…
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Group exercise
• Using the handout provided, do the following:
1. Identify key gender issue(s)
2. Determine key message(s) to be highlighted
3. Propose a title / heading that highlights the gender issue
shown
4. Draft a short paragraph explaining key message(s)
5. Discuss its relevance for labour market and social policies
6. Was the information provided sufficient?
-If no, which additional information is needed?
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Resources and Contact
• ICLS Resolutions and Guidelines
– Resolution concerning statistics of Work, Employment and labour
underutilization (2013)
– Checklist of good practices for mainstreaming gender in labour
statistics (2003)
http://www.ilo.org/global/statistics-and databases/standards-andguidelines/
• ILO STATISTICS contact
statistics@ilo.org
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