International Labour Organization (ILO)
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a specialized UN agency, established in 1919 and headquartered in Geneva. It promotes social justice, human rights, and labour rights. A distinctive feature of the ILO is its tripartite structure – its work involves representatives of governments, employers, and workers from 187 countries. The ILO sets labour standards, develops policies, and implements programs to promote decent work for all. The Decent Work Agenda is based on four pillars: standards and fundamental rights at work, greater opportunities for decent employment and income, effective social protection, and strengthened social dialogue. It also contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 8 – economic growth and decent work.
The ILO plays an important role in labour market statistics. Every five years, it organizes the International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS), during which resolutions and guidelines are adopted on issues such as measuring employment and unemployment, underutilization of the labour force, working time, occupational safety and health, and the classification of occupations (e.g., ISCO). The organization also monitors the implementation of ratified conventions and examines complaints regarding violations of labour rights, basing its recommendations on research and analyses.
Statistics Poland cooperates with the ILO, participates in the ICLS and expert consultations, and implements the agreed standards in labour market surveys. Statistics Poland provides data to ILO systems, including the ILOSTAT database, enabling international comparisons of labour market statistics. The use of common definitions and classifications (e.g., ISCO) improves the quality of analyses on unemployment, employment, and wages, and supports evidence-based policy design.
Why is this important?
- A common labour statistics language ensures clearly defined concepts, tested measurement methods, and uniform classifications, which reduce the risk of misunderstandings and make cross-country data comparisons easier.
- Data comparability within a country and across countries allows consistent tracking of changes over time, reliable reporting on progress toward SDG Goal 8, and credible comparisons between regions, sectors, and EU countries. In practice, this facilitates policy impact assessment, faster responses in crises, and evidence-based planning.
- For Statistics Poland, cooperation with the ILO means co-developing standards and implementing them in labour market surveys, continuously updating methods and classifications, and accounting for new phenomena in official statistics, such as platform-based work, remote work, or “green” jobs.
- For data users, this translates into simpler and more reliable indicators (e.g., unemployment rate, labour force participation) that support public policies, research, business decisions, and reporting on progress toward the 2030 Agenda.
Learn more:
- New roles of national statistical offices
- Globalization and modernization
- Data integration
- The 2030 Agenda
- ILO Homepage | International Labour Organization
- The leading source of labour statistics – ILOSTAT
- Labour statistics for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – ILOSTAT
- Standards and guidelines on labour statistics – ILOSTAT
- International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) – ILOSTAT
- Goal 8 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs
- Economic growth and decent work