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Analysis and Presentation


Analyses of international labor statistics focus upon comparisons with U.S. data. Wherever possible, the foreign data are adjusted to U.S. definitions and concepts to facilitate comparisons; for example, the adjustment of foreign unemployment rates to approximate U.S. concepts and the adjustment of production worker earnings to total hourly compensation costs.

Productivity and unit labor cost data are analyzed to explain the relative contributions of changes in output, employment, average hours, compensation, and exchange rates to changes in the measures. Changes in production worker compensation costs are analyzed to determine the relative contributions of direct pay and the other elements of compensation. Labor force, employment, and unemployment data are analyzed to determine the sources or components of differences and changes in labor force measures. Shifts in labor force composition are analyzed by sex and industrial sector.  Unemployment rates by youth and adult age groups are analyzed.

The presentation of foreign labor statistics varies with the degree of analysis and major use of the data. Articles are published periodically in the Monthly Labor Review. Some series are published regularly in the statistical section of the Monthly Labor Review; an annual news release is issued on comparative trends in manufacturing productivity and unit labor costs; and the hourly compensation cost measures for total manufacturing are issued in an annual news release. The US Department of Labor's Report on the American Workforce and the Bureau of the Census' Statistical Abstract of the United States publish many of the principal foreign data series, and some series are published in the annual Economic Report of the President. 

Background | Description of Methods | Data Sources | Estimating Procedures | Analysis and Presentation | Usage and Limitations

 

Last Modified Date: October 16, 2001

 

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