1. Revision of the International Classification of Status in Employment
Meeting of the UN Expert Group on Statistical Classifications
New York, May 2015
David Hunter, International Labour Office
ILO Department of Statistics

2. The International Classification of Status in Employment (ICSE-93)
Adopted through a resolution of the Fifteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in January 1993
The current international standard for statistics on the employment relationship
Classifies jobs (in employment) with respect to the type of explicit or implicit contract of employment between the job holder and the economic unit in which he or she is employed
Main purposes
To provide a model for the development of national classifications for statistics on status in employment; and
To provide the basis for the production of internationally comparable statistics on the topic.

3. ICSE-93 Substantive Groups
Paid employment jobs
1. Employees
Self-employment jobs
2. Employers
3. Own-account workers
4. Members of producers’ cooperatives
5. Contributing family workers
6. Workers not classifiable by status

4. Statistical treatment of particular groups that may be separately identified according to ICSE-93
Treatment of the following groups is included in the review
Owner-managers of incorporated enterprises
Regular employees with fixed-term contracts
Regular employees with contracts without limits of time
Workers in precarious employment
Casual workers
Workers in short-term employment
Workers in seasonal employment
Outworkers
Contractors
Workers engaged by labour hire agencies
Apprentices or trainees
Sub-categories of the five substantive ICSE-93 groups, or groups that cut across two or more of the substantive groups

5. Not proposed to be addressed as part of the review
Statistical treatment of particular groups that may be separately identified according to ICSE-93
Not proposed to be addressed as part of the review
Work gang (crew) members
Employment promotion employees
Employers of regular employees
Core own-account workers
Franchisees
Sharecroppers
Communal resource exploiters
Sub-categories of the five substantive ICSE-93 groups, or groups that cut across two or more of the substantive groups

6. Main uses of statistics classified by status in employment
Analysis of nature of economic risk and authority experienced by workers
Strength of attachment of the worker to the employer and the job
Relationship between economic cycles and employment in higher risk, less secure, or precarious working situations
Impact of self-employment and entrepreneurialism on employment and economic growth
Evaluation of government policies related to economic development and job creation
Input to the measurement of informal employment
Identification of wage employment and its distribution
production and analysis of statistics on wages, earnings and labour costs
Estimate revenue from social contributions differentiated by status in employment
Input to statistics on the socio-economic status
Explanatory variable in social statistics
The provision of data as an input national accounts

7. Reasons for revision
Categories do not provide sufficient information to adequately monitor changes in employment arrangements taking place in many countries
aim to increase flexibility in the labour market
increasing uncertainty about the boundary between self-employment and paid employment
increased use of ‘dependent’ contractors
Need for statistical information to monitor the impact of these arrangements
Not enough detail to monitor various non-standard forms of employment.
Many issues remained unresolved at 15th ICLS
Optional categories and treatment of specific groups to be decided at national level
Need for guidance on data collection
19th ICLS Resolution concerning statistics of work, employment an labour underutilization
Strong consensus at the 19th ICLS on the need to revise ICSE-93

8. Forms of Work Framework (1): By main intended destination & transaction type
(i.e. ALL activities to produce goods and services)
For own final use
(by households)
Own-use production work
For use by others (i.e. other units)
For remuneration (i.e. for pay or profit)
Employment
(work for pay or profit)
Without remuneration
Unpaid trainee work
Other work activities (e.g. unpaid compulsory work)
Volunteer work
Reference concept for Labour Force statistics
Services
Goods
Services
Goods S G S G G S
SNA labour input
ILO Department of Statistics

9. Implications for ICSE (and ICATUS)
Employment concept has changed (narrower)
One to one relationship with SNA production boundary no longer maintained
Some ICSE categories no longer relevant to ‘employment’
New forms of work identified
Extend beyond the scope of previous ‘employment’ and cover the General production boundary
Question – which forms of work will the new ICSE cover?
(How will ICATUS relate to the forms of work)
ILO Department of Statistics

10. Issues to be addressed in the review of ICSE-93 - General issues
Need for a conceptual framework for comparable statistics on various aspects of the relationship between the worker and the econimic unit in which she or he works
Scope of the resolution and the new classification of status in employment
Relevance of a distinction between paid employment and self- employment as a dichotomous pair of high level categories
Which concepts are to be included in a new central classification of status?
And which should be identified as separate variables/classifications?
Relevance of the standards to informal employment situations
Guidelines on data collection, questionnaire design and derivation

11. Issues to be addressed in the review - Specific issues (1)
Boundary between self-employment and paid employment
Owner-managers of incorporated enterprises
Dependent contractors (dependent self-employed)
Provision of clear definitions, methods for identification and categorisation of these groups
Identification of workers with various types of employment arrangement that might indicate precarious employment situations
such as casual, short-term, temporary and seasonal employees, and workers on zero hours contracts

12. Issues to be addressed in the review - Specific issues (2)
The identification and statistical treatment of various specific types of worker including:
apprentices, trainees and interns (paid and unpaid)
entrepreneurs,
family workers/helpers
domestic workers
homeworkers and outworkers,
members of producers’ cooperatives, and
workers engaged by labour hire agencies and in other triangular employment relationships

13. Overview of revision process
Review of the national practices during
Discussion paper on the need for revision of ICSE-93 presented to the 19th ICLS
Mandate for revision
Proposed to replace of the existing classification with a suite of standards for statistics on the work relationship
status in employment classification to be complemented by a series of supporting variables dealing with various aspects of working arrangements
New standards to be presented to the 20th ICLS in 2018 in the form of a draft resolution for discussion, amendment, and ultimate adoption

14. Development and consideration of proposals
Working group to support the ILO
Relatively informal
Includes users and producers of both economic and labour statistics
Representatives from countries, organizations, workers and employers
Meetings and documentation mainly in English only
Online discussion forum
Provide expert advice and technical input to ILO
Assist with the development and testing of proposals
Review first draft resolution for 20th ICLS
Tripartite meetings of experts in 2017 and/or 2018
Relatively more formal
Review draft resolution in English, French and Spanish

15. Outcomes of the first Working Group meeting
20th ICLS resolution on statistics of should embrace all forms work
Continued need for a classification of status in employment.
Once developed, this classification could point the way for the development of a broader conceptual framework for statistics on relationships and status at work for all forms of work.
Some categories defined in the classification of status in employment would also be relevant for other forms of work and some would not.
Separate category for Owner-managers of incorporated enterprises
Provide guidance on methods for data collection,
Provide clarity on their treatment in aggregate statistics.
Separate category for Dependent contractors
Clarify the scope, definition and classification of the group
Investigate methods to measure it operationally

16. Dichotomy between paid employment and self-employment
Is it relevant and useful to maintain a distinction between paid employment and self-employment as a dichotomous pair of high level categories?
wide range of conflicting analytical uses of these categories in economic accounts, labour market and social statistics
increasing number of types of employment arrangement that do not fit comfortably into either category.
Owner managers/Working proprietors of incorporated enterprises
Dependent contractors
Freelance workers
Contributing family workers
Workers providing paid services to households
ILO Department of Statistics

17. Dichotomy between paid employment and self-employment
Paid employment jobs
Explicit or implicit employment contracts give basic remuneration not directly dependent upon revenue of the employing unit
Typically remunerated by wages and salaries
May be paid by commission from sales, piece-rates, bonuses or in-kind payments such as food, housing or training.
Self-employment jobs
Remuneration is directly dependent upon the profits (or the potential for profits) derived from the goods and services produced (own consumption is considered to be part of profits).
Incumbents make the operational decisions affecting the enterprise, or delegate such decisions while retaining responsibility for the welfare of the enterprise.

18. Classification of status based on type of authority/dependency
Independent workers
Employers
Owner-managers of incorporated enterprises with employees
Employers in unincorporated enterprises
Own-account operators of enterprises
Operators of incorporated enterprises without employees
Own-account workers in unincorporated enterprises
Dependent workers
Employees
Regular employees
Temporary employees
Workers with casual, on-call and zero-hours contracts
Employees without formal contracts
Paid apprentices, trainees and interns
Dependent contractors
Family helpers

19. Classification of status based on the type of economic risk
Workers in employment for profit
Employers in unincorporated enterprises
Own-account workers in unincorporated enterprises
Dependent contractors
Family helpers
Workers in paid employment
Owner-managers of incorporated enterprises
Owner-managers of incorporated enterprises with employees
Operators of incorporated enterprises without employees
Employees
Regular employees
Fixed-term, short-term and seasonal employees
Workers with casual, on-call and zero-hours contracts
Employees without formal contracts
Paid apprentices, trainees and interns

20. Conflict between two criteria
ICSE-93 classifies jobs according based on two criteria:
The type of economic risk
The type of authority over establishments and other workers
To make the distinction between ‘self-employment jobs’ and ‘paid employment jobs’ in line with SNA the type of economic risk criterion is mainly operationalized by considering whether the remuneration is:
directly dependent on the profits
based on an explicit or implicit contract which gives basic remuneration, typically through wages and salaries,
not directly dependent upon the revenue of the unit in which they work.

21. Framework and classification for statistics on status at work
Conceptual approach used for the classification of status in employment was used to conceptualise a broader framework and classification for statistics on status at work.
Extends the concepts of dependent and independent worker to the other forms of work
based on a matrix of authority/dependency and type of economic risk and remuneration (including without payment).
Concepts such as family helpers and apprentices, trainees and interns are relevant for several forms of work
Definitions can be reused to promote coherence between statistics on the different forms of work

22. Complementary variables currently proposed
Duration of contract.
Duration of current job
Contract type
Form of remuneration
Seasonality (e.g. seasonal or not)
Usual workplace
Classification of domestic workers and a statistical definition of domestic work and domestic workers.
Homeworkers and outworkers.
Workers in triangular employment arrangements including those engaged by labour hire agencies.
Trainee status.

23. Overview of timelines for revision of ICSE-93
2015
Working group meetings (May and November/December)
Review of current practices and develop discussion papers and proposals for resolution of each problem area (ILO, consultants, WG members)
2016
Field testing and/or further investigation of outstanding problems as required
Regional consultations
Develop first draft resolution for 20th ICLS
3rd Working Group meeting (November/December)
2017
Redraft resolution
Further testing if required
Translate and edit draft resolution for Meeting of Experts
1st Meeting of Experts (June?)
Redraft resolution in English, French and Spanish
2018
2nd Meeting of Experts (February?)
Finalize draft resolution and papers for 20th ICLS
Discuss and adopt resolution 20th ICLS (October)

24. Thank you
ILO Department of Statistics

25. Resources and Contact
19th International Conference of labour statisticians
ICLS Resolutions and Guidelines
databases/standards-and-guidelines/
STATISTICS contact
ILO Department of Statistics