Labour Statistics for a Market Economy

the long version

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.