Employment and Unemployment Statistics

Dates and duration

September 8 – 25, 2009

Tuition

$5,495

Participants

This seminar is designed primarily for economists, statisticians, researchers, analysts, and managers working with labor force statistics. Participants should have an elementary knowledge of statistics and some experience in analyzing labor force or social data.

Objectives

To strengthen participants' abilities to produce and analyze statistics on employment and unemployment by:

  • Presenting techniques for designing and conducting household surveys to measure employment and unemployment
  • Presenting methodologies for designing and conducting surveys of establishments to measure employment by industry and occupation
  • Developing skills in analyzing data on the characteristics of the labor force and on employment and unemployment

Program content

This seminar will focus on the traditional approaches to employment statistics used in industrialized nations, but also will examine approaches such as multipurpose household surveys and income studies to determine both visible and invisible underemployment.

Also included in the seminar will be techniques and methodologies for conducting surveys of establishments to determine employment, hours, and earnings. Techniques for using data from administrative sources will be discussed.

Participants are encouraged to bring with them the following materials for use in discussions and workshops: 1) methodologies on how data related to the seminar topic are collected in their home countries; 2) questionnaires used in their countries for obtaining those data; and 3) sample publications of those data. Time will be reserved for participants to have appointments with staff of BLS and other organizations to discuss special problems.

A summary of the program follows:

Definitions and concepts

  • Labor force
  • Employment
  • Unemployment
  • Underemployment

Labor force surveys

  • Concepts
  • Planning
  • Sample selection
  • Questionnaire design and collection methodology
  • Estimation procedures
  • Computer applications

Surveys of employment in establishments

  • Planning
  • Benchmarks
  • Sample selection
  • Questionnaire design and collection methodology
  • Estimation procedures

Analysis of estimates of employment and unemployment

  • Descriptive analysis
  • Analysis by sector
  • Analysis by industry and occupation

NOTE: Participants may be interested in attending the one-week seminar on Advanced Topics on Employment and Unemployment Statistics which immediately follows this seminar.

 

Last modified: November 12, 2008