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Introduction
The latest International Classification of Status in Employment (ICSE-18) classifies jobs in employment for pay or profit into ten detailed categories based on the type of authority that the worker is able to exercise in relation to the work performed and the type of economic risk to which the worker is exposed, which then are aggregated according to two alternative classification hierarchies:
- International Classification of Status in Employment according to type of authority (ICSE-18-A), and
- International Classification of Status in Employment according to type of economic risk (ICSE-18-R).
Meanwhile, the International Classification of Status at Work (ICSaW-18) provides an organizing framework for statistics classified by status at work. It covers all jobs and work activities in all forms of work, including own-use production work, employment, unpaid trainee work, volunteer work and other forms of work. At its most detailed level, it comprises 20 mutually exclusive categories. The detailed status at work categories may be aggregated, based on the type of authority exercised by the worker, to form eight broad groups, which may be further aggregated to form a dichotomy between independent workers and dependent workers.
ICSE-93: Status in Employment
NOTE: This classification presents the former statistical standard, but it is still the most widely used by national statistical systems in the production of labour statistics.
- Employees
- Employers
- Own-account workers
- Members of producers’ cooperatives
- Contributing family workers
- Workers not classifiable by status
ICSE-18-A: Status in Employment according to type of authority
This classification provides a dichotomy between independent workers (groups A and B) and dependent workers (groups C-E).
Classification
Independent workers
A. Employers
11 – Employers in corporations
12 – Employers in household market enterprises
B. Independent workers without employees
21 – Owner-operators of corporations without employees
22 – Own-account workers in household market enterprises without employees
Dependent workers
C. Dependent contractors
30 – Dependent contractors
D. Employees
41 – Permanent employees
42 – Fixed-term employees
43 – Short-term and casual employees
44 – Paid apprentices, trainees and interns
E. Contributing family workers
51 – Contributing family workers
Uses
ICSE-18-A is suitable for various types of labour market analysis, including analysis of the impact of economic cycles on the labour market, and of government policies related to employment creation and regulation. It is also the most suitable hierarchy for use as an input variable in the compilation of statistics classified by socio-economic status.
ICSE-18-R: Status in Employment according to type of economic risk
This classification provides a dichotomy between employment for pay (groups G and D) and employment for profit (groups F, C and E). This latter dichotomy is analogous to the traditional distinction between paid employment and self-employment, used for example in the System of National Accounts.
Classification
Workers in employment for profit
F. Independent workers in household market enterprises
12 – Employers in household market enterprises
22 – Own-account workers in household market enterprises without employees
C. Dependent contractors:
30 – Dependent contractors
E. Contributing family workers
51 – Contributing family workers
Workers in employment for pay
G. Owner-operators of corporations
11 – Employers in corporations
21 – Owner-operators of corporations without employees
D. Employees
41 – Permanent employees
42 – Fixed-term employees
43 – Short-term and casual employees
44 – Paid apprentices, trainees and interns
Uses
ICSE-18-R is suitable for the provision of data for national accounts, for the identification of wage employment and its distribution, for the analysis from the perspective of economic risk of the impact of economic cycles and government on the labour market, and for the production and analysis of statistics on wages, earnings and labour costs.
ICSaW-18: International Classification of Status at Work
The detailed status at work categories may be aggregated, based on the type of authority exercised by the worker, to form eight broad groups which may be further aggregated to form a dichotomy between independent workers and dependent workers.
Each of the detailed status at work groups in ICSaW-18 relates to only one form of work. The groups that relate to employment have the same definitions as in ICSE-18. The aggregate groups that include both employment and other forms of work, have a broader scope in ICSaW-18 than in ICSE-18-A and in some cases are assigned a different name.
Classification
Independent workers
1. Employers
11 – Employers in corporations
12 – Employers in household market enterprises
13 – Employers in own-use provision of services
14 – Employers in own-use production of goods
2. Independent workers without employees
21 – Owner-operators of corporations without employees
22 – Own-account workers in household market enterprises without employees
23 – Independent workers in own-use provision of services without employees
24 – Independent workers in own-use production of goods without employees
25 – Direct volunteers
Dependent workers
3. Dependent contractors
30 – Dependent contractors
4. Employees
41 – Permanent employees
42 – Fixed-term employees
43 – Short-term and casual employees
44 – Paid apprentices, trainees and interns
5. Family helpers
51 – Contributing family workers
52 – Family helpers in own-use provision of services
53 – Family helpers in own-use production of goods
6. Unpaid trainee workers
60 – Unpaid trainee workers
7. Organization-based volunteers
70 – Organization-based volunteers
9. Other unpaid workers
90 – Other unpaid workers
Aggregates based on form of work
Subsets of the detailed categories in ICSaW-18 may be used to present statistics on work relationships in own-use production work, employment, volunteer work, child labour and time-use on a conceptually consistent basis, regardless of the scope and source of the statistics. The categories for own-use production work and volunteer work may be aggregated according to the form of work as follows:
Workers in own-use production
(i) Workers in own-use provision of services
13 – Employers in own-use provision of services
23 – Independent workers in own-use provision of services without employees
52 – Family helpers in own-use provision of services
(ii) Workers in own-use production of goods
14 – Employers in own-use production of goods
24 – Independent workers in own-use production of goods without employees
53 – Family helpers in own-use production of goods
Volunteer workers
25 – Direct volunteers
70 – Organization-based volunteers
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