Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Convention concerning Statistics of Wages and Hours of Work, 1938 (No. 63) - St Helena

Part I of the Convention – Statistics relating to wages and hours of work

Parts I –IV of the Convention. Statistics relating to wages and hours of work. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that no changes have taken place since its previous report affecting the application of Parts I through IV of the Convention. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the Statistical Yearbook 2013–2014 communicated by the Government did not include statistics on hours of work or wages for the economy as a whole or separately for agriculture, mining, or manufacturing, and that statistics on working time and earnings of employees were not regularly submitted to the ILO Department of Statistics via its annual questionnaire. The Committee therefore requested the Government to provide statistical and methodological information on wages and hours of work. In its response, the Government provides its most recent datafile containing its annual analysis of the wages of full-time employees and the corresponding Bulletin setting out the methodology used in compiling this information. The Committee welcomes this information; nevertheless, it notes that while the datafile provides information on the estimated annual minimum wage (derived from hourly rates), it provides no statistics on hours of work or wages for the economy as a whole, nor does it provide statistics separately for agriculture, mining, or manufacturing, as required by the Convention. The data communicated by the Government primarily relates to information on income from employment. Moreover, the Committee notes that statistics on working time and earnings are not regularly submitted to the ILO Department of Statistics via its annual questionnaire. The Committee takes note of the Government’s indication that it is unable to provide all of the statistics requested due to its very limited resources available for statistical work. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on any developments regarding the application of the Convention and to provide the statistics required on the matters covered by Parts II–IV of the Convention to the extent possible. In addition, it reminds the Government that it may avail itself of technical assistance from the Office with respect to collection of the relevant data.

In this context, the Committee recalls the recommendations of the Fourth Meeting of the Standards Review Mechanism Tripartite Working Group in September 2018, confirming the status of Convention No. 63 as an outdated instrument. It therefore encourages the Government to consider ratification of the Labour Statistics Convention, 1980 (No. 160), as the most up-to-date instrument on labour statistics, resulting in the automatic denunciation of Convention No. 63. In this respect, the Committee notes the Governing Body’s decision at its 334th Session (October–November 2018) to place an item on the agenda of the International Labour Conference in 2024 for consideration of the abrogation of Convention No. 63, on the recommendation of the Standards Review Mechanism Tripartite Working Group. The Committee once again reminds the Government of the availability of ILO technical assistance in relation to the application of the Convention.