Labour statistics: Dissemination guidelines

Abstract

Nowadays the use of labour statistics goes well beyond just monitoring the labour market; they are becoming well integrated into several aspects of government decision-making and influence financial markets. The methods used for their release and further dissemination are therefore rightly a matter of public concern. Virtually all international recommendations and guidance on labour statistics are restricted to the collection and processing operations. Only recently has attention been given at an international level to developing a code of best practice for dissemination – even though dissemination practices have a big influence on the reputation of statistics and the agency which releases them. Besides the distribution of data on paper and by electronic means, guidelines of good dissemination practice should include topics such as user-friendliness, the provision of metadada, publicity for statistical products and relationships with users.