Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2000, publiée 89ème session CIT (2001)

Convention (n° 160) sur les statistiques du travail, 1985 - Finlande (Ratification: 1987)

The Committee notes the Government’s report which replies to the direct request made in 1995, and in particular the information supplied in reply to the previous request concerning Articles 7 and 8 of the Convention. It notes with satisfaction the Government’s notification, in conformity with Article 16, paragraph 3, of the acceptance of the obligations of Article 11. The Committee also notes, as it did in its observation of 1999, the comments on the application of the Convention by the Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers (TT), the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) and the Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals in Finland (AKAVA) received with the Government’s report, in particular the comment regarding Article 9 (defective link between statistics of earnings and those of hours of work). The Government has not yet sent its observations about those comments. The Committee hopes that the Government will provide its observations with the next report.

The Committee asks the Government to provide further information on the following points:

Article 9.  The Committee notes with interest that since 1995, new statistics on average earnings (Article 9, paragraph 1), derived from the Structure of Earnings Survey (SES), have been compiled and published annually. It notes that these statistics cover all important categories of employees, by sex, and all important branches of economic activity in the private and public sectors, and incorporate the data regularly compiled by the employers’ organizations.

The Committee notes, however, that according to the available information in the ILO, statistics of average weekly hours paid for (Article 9, paragraph 1) and statistics of average wage and salary rates and normal hours of work (Article 9, paragraph 2) appear to have been derived from SES only in 1995, while these statistics continue to be compiled from the Labour Force Survey and the wages inquiries conducted by the Confederation of Employers.

Taking into consideration that ideally, statistics of hours of work should be compiled at the same time as earnings from the SES, the Committee asks the Government whether it intends to compile and publish statistics of average hours of work (normal hours and hours paid for), and statistics of wage and salary rates, which would be derived from the annual Structure of Earnings Survey and be compatible with the corresponding earnings statistics.

The Committee asks the Government to communicate, as soon as practicable, the publications relating to the statistics covered by Article 9 and the methodological information relating to the SES for the years 1996 to 1998, if it differs from the guidelines followed in the 1995 survey, in accordance with Articles 5 and 6.

Article 10.  The Committee notes that according to the Government’s report, statistics on the structure and distribution of earnings and hours of work which follow the EC guidelines are compiled annually through the SES. It asks the Government to communicate the publications relating to these statistics (Article 5).

Article 12.  The Committee asks the Government: (i) to indicate whether representative organisations of employers and workers were consulted when the concepts, definitions and methodology used for the revised CPI were designed (Article 3); and (ii) to provide the ILO with "Kuluttajahintaindex 1995 = 100 - Käyttäjän Käsikirja" (the consumer price index 1995 = 100, Handbook for users), ISSN 0355-2063 (Article 5).

Article 13.  The Committee asks the Government to communicate the results of the 1996 Household Consumption Expenditure Survey and 1997 Income Distribution Survey to the ILO (Article 5).

Article 14.  The Committee notes the information provided in the Government’s report regarding the publication of the statistics compiled in pursuance of this Article and the consultation with organizations of employers and workers. It notes the progress that has been made regarding the compilation of statistics on days lost as a result of occupational injuries, which are now communicated regularly to the ILO, in accordance with Article 5.

The Committee further notes that, according to the information available in the ILO, while statistics on fatal occupational diseases are compiled and published separately from those on occupational injuries, it is still not possible to distinguish between non-fatal occupational injuries and occupational diseases in the statistics. The Committee asks the Government to keep it informed of any progress made in the future to compile separate statistics on non-fatal occupational injuries and diseases.

The Committee notes that the statistics on occupational injuries and occupational diseases cover virtually all paid employees, but that the self-employed are excluded. It asks the Government to keep it informed of any plans it may have to extend the coverage of the statistics in the future to the self-employed. In this connection, the Committee notes with interest that, according to information available in the ILO, statistics on occupational injuries and diseases were also collected in 1999 via an ad hoc module of questions attached to the Labour Force Survey. It asks the Government to communicate these statistics to the ILO when they are available.