As one of the first UN agencies to join the new UN Data platform, the ILO is excited to make its rich and diverse labour data available to a wider global audience. Through this collaboration, users can now explore millions of data points — covering employment, unemployment, working conditions, and beyond — on the UN Data platform, sourced directly from ILOSTAT, our central portal for labour statistics.
“With 7 million data values now available, this integration reflects a major leap in making ILO’s labour statistics more accessible and usable across the UN system and beyond.” — Rafael Diez de Medina, ILO Chief Statistician and Director of the Department of Statistics
Our participation in UN Data builds on a strong foundation in data sharing and interoperability, including our use of SDMX — a technical standard that simplifies data exchange. This made ILO a natural fit to be among the first agencies integrated into the platform.
A new window into labour statistics
The ILO’s decision to join the UN Data Commons was driven by a shared goal: broadening access to reliable, high-quality labour statistics. By bringing ILOSTAT data into a common platform, we aim to reach new users — including researchers, policymakers, and other UN agencies — who may not yet be familiar with the depth and breadth of our data offerings.
Through this process, we also reflected on the usability of our data, especially for users who may not be familiar with the standards and classifications used in labour statistics. For example, users will encounter multiple employment series based on different standards set by the International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS), such as those from the 13th versus the 19th ICLS. These standards reflect important shifts in how employment is measured, as the concepts and definitions evolved to capture new forms of work. While these distinctions are crucial for accurate interpretation, they can be difficult to navigate outside the ILOSTAT ecosystem — and sometimes even within it.
This experience has encouraged us to think more critically about how we present data: What is intuitive to seasoned labour statisticians may not be obvious to the broader data community. UN Data platform provides us with a valuable testing ground for more user-centric dissemination, not only on this new platform but also on our own portal.
Beyond headline indicators
One key message we hope users take away is that the ILO offers much more than just headline figures on employment and unemployment. Our data covers a wide range of labour topics, including informal employment, labour underutilization, working time, earnings, industrial relations, and occupational safety and health, among others. We also provide granular data across various classifications, allowing for detailed cross-tabulations that offer deeper insights into labour trends.
This enhanced granularity in our datasets began with a strategic shift in 2016 when we began processing household survey microdata. This significantly enhanced the depth of our data, increasing the volume of published data from just 2 million data values to 340 million today — and the number continues to grow. This shift has not only reduced the reporting burden on national statistical offices but also greatly expanded the analytical possibilities for data users.
With the UN Data platform, we are proud to contribute to a more integrated and accessible global data landscape, reaffirming the ILO’s commitment to transparency, interoperability, and innovation in labour statistics. We invite all users to explore the ILO’s data insights on the platform and to stay tuned for regular updates as we continue to expand and enhance our offerings.
