The International Labor Comparisons Program (ILC) of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) adjusts

economic statistics Economic statistics is a topic in applied statistics and applied economics that concerns the collection, processing, compilation, dissemination, and analysis of economic data. It is closely related to business statistics and econometrics. It ...

(with an emphasis on labor statistics) to a common conceptual framework in order to make data comparable across countries. Its data can be used to evaluate the economic performance of one country relative to that of other countries and to assess international competitiveness. Since 2014, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has discontinued this program, but

The Conference Board The Conference Board, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit business membership and research group organization. It counts over 1,000 public and private corporations and other organizations as members, encompassing 60 countries. The Conference Board co ...

continues to publish the majority of the data series.

History

Precursors of the International Labor Comparisons Program

The first commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Carroll Wright, began the BLS tradition of international comparisons. He sent members of his staff to Europe to collect information on foreign labor force trends. In 1898, BLS published a report that compared wages in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

to those in Europe and in 1902 it published a report that described labor conditions in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. In 1915, the first issue of the ''

Monthly Labor Review The ''Monthly Labor Review'' (''MLR'') is published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. governmen ...

'', the Bureau’s research journal, contained articles on employment and various other economic indicators in foreign countries. In the late 1940s, BLS assisted in the implementation of the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

by developing international comparisons of

labor productivity Workforce productivity is the amount of goods and services that a group of workers produce in a given amount of time. It is one of several types of productivity that economists measure. Workforce productivity, often referred to as labor product ...

and providing technical assistance to European governments for developing their own productivity statistics.

Founding of the current program

BLS formed the current international comparisons program in the 1960s as the importance of

foreign trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy) In most countries, such trade represents a significant ...

and interest in international

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indiv ...

grew. The first study published by the program was an evaluation of the comparability of unemployment rates undertaken in response to a 1961 request by the Committee to Appraise Employment and Unemployment Statistics. In 1963, the program began to publish trends of

and unit labor costs for the

manufacturing sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructio ...

. In the mid-1970s, the program published level comparisons of

Gross Domestic Product per Capita Lists of countries by GDP per capita list the countries in the world by their gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The lists may be based on nominal or purchasing power parity GDP. Gross national income (GNI) per capita accounts for inflow ...

and by 1980 levels of hourly compensation (wages and benefits) in the manufacturing sector.

Recent developments

Over time, the program expanded its coverage of labor indicators and countries. In addition to the aforementioned labor indicators, the program began to publish a number of related indicators, such as average annual hours,

exchange rates In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of ...

, and consumer price indexes. Further, the program originally covered only selected

developed countries A developed country (or industrialized country, high-income country, more economically developed country (MEDC), advanced country) is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy and advanced technological infrastruct ...

. As

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

became more important to U.S. trade, the program expanded its coverage to include selected

emerging economies An emerging market (or an emerging country or an emerging economy) is a market that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not fully meet its standards. This includes markets that may become developed markets in the future or were ...

in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. In addition, the program produced a number of special international studies on topics, such as compensation and employment in China, youth labor markets, and family structures. The current program has also shown commitment to international cooperation. ILC aided the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

(ILO) in developing th
Key Indicators of Labor Market
(KILM), a compilation of fundamental measures of labor market conditions. ILC also provided ''KILM'' with data on hourly compensation. In 2009, the name of the program was changed from the Division of Foreign Labor Statistics to the International Labor Comparisons Program. Since 2014, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has discontinued this program, but

continues to publish the majority of the data series.

Statistical Reporting

ILC prepares internationally comparable labor indicators that can be used to assess economic and labor market performance of one country relative to that of other countries and to evaluate the competitive position of different countries. The comparisons primarily cover industrialized countries and increasingly also

Labor force, employment, and unemployment

ILC produces annual data for

labor force The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic reg ...

, employment, and

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refere ...

measures in 16 countries. Monthly and quarterly seasonally adjusted unemployment rates and employment indexes are also available. Foreign country data are adjusted to the U.S. definitions used by the U.S.

Current Population Survey The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of about 60,000 U.S. households conducted by the United States Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS uses the data to publish reports early each month called the Em ...

Hourly compensation (wages and benefits)

ILC’s hourly compensation series presents labor costs adjusted for cross country comparability for 36 countries. Hourly compensation refers to employers’ total expenditure on labor per hour worked, and includes wages and

salaries A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis. ...

, direct benefits, and contributions to

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

schemes. The ILC compensation series covers all employees and production workers in manufacturing and 22 sub-manufacturing industries, such as apparel, motor vehicles, and computer and electronics.

Productivity and unit labor costs

ILC produces internationally comparable data on

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proces ...

, calculated as output per hour worked; unit labor costs, calculated as hourly compensation per unit of output; and related measures. The data cover the manufacturing sector and, for selected series, also the whole economy for 19 countries.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and per hour

ILC’s produces internationally comparable data on

, Gross Domestic Product per Hour, and related measures for 20 countries. The data are adjusted to U.S. dollars using purchasing power parities (PPPs).

Consumer prices

ILC publishes Harmonized Indexes of Consumer Prices (

HICP The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) is an indicator of inflation and price stability for the European Central Bank (ECB). It is a consumer price index which is compiled according to a methodology that has been harmonised across EU countr ...

) that are internationally comparable and also compiles CPI data from national statistical offices. Although the national CPIs presented are not comparable across countries, they are adjusted to the same base year for all countries. In addition, ILC published an article that analyzed harmonized indexes of consumer prices. {, class="wikitable" , - ! Indicator !! Main Statistics!! Related Statistics !! Annual Coverage !! Country Coverage !! Sector Coverage !! Frequency of Publication , - ,

Labor Force The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic reg ...

, , Labor force participation rates by sex and women’s share of the labor force , , Labor force levels and working-age population by sex , , 1970–present , , 16 , , Total economy , , Annual , - , Employment , , Employment-population ratios by sex and distribution of employment by sector , , Employment levels by sector and working-age population by sex , , 1970–present , , 16 , , Total economy , , Annual, monthly (Employment indexes only) , - ,

Unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refere ...

, , Unemployment rates by sex and by age , , Unemployment levels , , 1970–present , , 16 , , Total economy , , Annual, monthly (Unemployment rates only) , - , Hourly Compensation , , Labor costs per hour , , Wages and direct benefits , , 1975–present , , 37 , , Manufacturing, sub-manufacturing industries , , Annual , - ,

Labor Productivity Workforce productivity is the amount of goods and services that a group of workers produce in a given amount of time. It is one of several types of productivity that economists measure. Workforce productivity, often referred to as labor product ...

, , Output per hour , , Output, hours, employment , , 1950–present , , 19 , , Manufacturing , , Annual , - , Unit Labor Costs , , Labor cost per output , , Compensation , , 1950–present , , 19 , , Manufacturing , , Annual , - ,

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...

, , GDP per capita and GDP per hour , , Purchasing Power Parities, exchange rates , , 1960–present , , 19 , , Total economy , , Annual , - , Price Indexes , , Consumer price indexes, , , , 1950–present , , 16 , , Total economy , , Annual, monthly , - , Harmonized Price Indexes , , Harmonized indexes of consumer prices, , , , 1996–present , , 16 , , Total economy , , Annual, monthly

Research and Special Studies

ILC publishes articles on international subjects in the

. Topics have included employment and compensation in China, compensation in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, labor markets for youth, and hours worked. The program publishes an annual chartbook of international labor comparisons.Annual chartbook of international labor comparisons.
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References

Labour economics indices Bureau of Labor Statistics