Collecting statistics on imbalances in the demand for labour

Abstract

Given the degree of international agreement on the definition and statistical measurement of ‘employment’ and ‘unemployment’, reached after a long period of discussion and comparison of the experience and practices of many countries, it is interesting that there has been so little international discussion of the definition and statistical measurement of ‘vacancies’ and ‘excess labour’. This paper presents suggestions and implications for an approach to the statistical measurement of ‘vacancies’ parallel to that of the international recommendations concerning the measurement of ‘unemployment’, and goes on to discuss some of the practical problems involved in the measurement of ‘vacancies’ and other variables which may be used as indicators of demand side manifestations of imbalances in the labour market.