Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

Labour Statistics Convention, 1985 (No. 160) - Latvia (Ratification: 1994)

Further to its previous comment, the Committee notes the Government's second report. It notes that methodological information concerning the statistics covered by Articles 7 and 12 of the Convention has been communicated to the ILO, in accordance with Article 6. The Committee requests the Government to supply further information on the following points.

Legislation. In the absence of information, the Committee again requests the Government to provide a list of the laws and regulations which apply the provisions of the Convention.

Article 3 of the Convention. The Committee notes the Government's indication that representative organizations of employers and workers were not involved in designing or revising the concepts, definitions and methodology of the statistics of economically active population, employment, unemployment and visible underemployment (Article 7). Recalling that it is an obligation under this Convention to consult them in designing or revising the concepts, definitions and methodology of the statistics covered by the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to provide the information on such consultation with regard to Articles 12 and 13. It also hopes that such consultation will be made on future occasions.

Article 12. The Committee again requests the Government: (i) to supply information concerning the coverage and weighting pattern followed in computing the consumer price index; (ii) to indicate which international standards were taken into account in computing the CPI (in accordance with Article 2); (iii) to communicate the title and reference of the publication containing the detailed methodological descriptions (if any) as required under Article 6.

Article 13. The Committee requests the Government to continue to send to the ILO relevant publications of both the results of the survey and the methodology used concerning the statistics of household expenditure (Articles 5 and 6).

Article 16. The Committee notes the information supplied in respect of Articles 8 to 11, 14 and 15, obligations under which have not been accepted. It is for the purpose of clarifying the extent to which effect is already given to them, that the Committee is making the following remarks on some of these Articles.

Article 8. The Committee notes that, on the basis of structural data obtained through the regular labour force survey, as presented and analysed above, it may be said that this Article is being partially applied. It asks the Government to indicate if and when the next census is foreseen.

Articles 9, 10 and 11. The Committee notes that monthly and quarterly statistics of average monthly earnings and hours actually worked are compiled, in compliance with Article 9(1). Statistics on occupational earnings and hours paid for have been compiled with reference to October 1997 and will be collected annually. Statistics on the distribution of employees by levels of earnings are compiled once a year, in compliance with Article 10. All these data now cover the whole economy (i.e. the structured sector). Statistics of total labour cost, labour cost components and hourly labour cost in manufacturing were compiled for the first time in 1998 with reference to 1997 and it is expected that the survey coverage will gradually be extended to cover other branches of economic activity, in accordance with Article 11. The concepts and classifications follow the ILO guidelines and comply with EUROSTAT requirements. The survey method is still very much based on reports returned by enterprises on an exhaustive basis but, with the growing number of data collections, the Central Statistical Bureau envisages being able to make more use of sampling in the future.

The Committee notes these developments with interest and draws the Government's attention to the possibility, under Article 16(3), of accepting the obligations of Articles 9(1), 10 and 11. It hopes that the Government will continue to supply any statistics compiled on the subjects covered by these Articles, as well as particulars of their sources, methodology and publication, in accordance with Article 16(4).