© ILO
© ILO

Statistics on collective bargaining

Table of Contents

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Introduction

Our working conditions determine to a great extent our living conditions (and those of our families), which is why it is crucial to ensure adequate working conditions for all. Social dialogue is one of the main means to promote satisfactory working conditions, as well as peace and social justice. It includes negotiations and consultations among the different labour market actors, collective bargaining and dispute prevention and resolution. Successful social dialogue has the potential to resolve important economic and social issues and deal with economic crises in an effective way. The extent of social dialogue has a direct impact on stability, labour market governance and the economy as a whole.

All negotiations which take place between an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations and one or more workers’ organisations to determine working conditions and terms of employment are part of collective bargaining. The coverage of collective bargaining includes all workers whose pay and/or conditions of employment are determined by one or more collective agreement(s), including workers covered by agreements on the basis of their extension.

The scope, coverage and frequency of collective bargaining, the items negotiated and the outcome of negotiations have a great impact on workers’ conditions.

In order to assess the extent of social dialogue, reliable data is needed on unions and unionization, employers’ organizations, collective bargaining and industrial disputes. This page presents valuable statistics and studies on collective bargaining coverage around the world.

Data catalogue

Featured publication

Methods

Related pages

© Marcel Crozet/ ILO
Industrial Relations Data (IRdata)

Concise description of concepts and definitions, uses, sources and limitations for indicators in the database Industrial Relations Data (IRdata), including collective bargaining and union membership.

Publications

Many publications are available in English only. Click on the + sign for other languages, if available, and additional information. 

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Use the search box and filters above the table

Use the search box to enter key words; use quotes around your term for better results. Available filters differ depending on the catalogue. Selecting a frequency allows users to find monthly, quarterly, or annual indicators. While all indicators are available for annual periods, only a subset are available as monthly or quarterly. 

Options to access data

This tool provides an intuitive interface to filter the selection, pivot the table, calculate distributions and growth rates, and export data into various formats.

Data available in the Excel summary files are for indicators only (not available for countries or regions) for selected classification items for 2010 onward for annual data and 2018 onward for short-term indicators. For historical data or additional classifications, either use the Data Explorer or download the CSV file. 

Available in the country catalogue only, this option takes users to the country profiles page with the selected country pre-filtered in the table. Highlighting the latest year available for key indicators, this is a subset of the available data for a given country.

Download a zipped CSV file (gzip) to get data in bulk. These files contain only codes. Download the dictionary with labels here. 

There are other options to access data in the data tools section.Â