Concepts and Definitions[*1] : for Basic Tabulation , [*2] : for Detailed Tabulation , others : for both tabulations
1. Population aged 15 years old and over<Age>
Age is that as of the last day of the reference week.
<Marital status>
Marital status is classified according to the actual
situation, regardless of the legal status of the family
register.
<Relationship to the head of household>
Spouse of the head:
Wife or husband of the head of household
Other family members:
Family members other than the spouse of the headof household<Education> [*2]All persons are classified into “Attending school”,“Graduated from school” and “Never attended”,
according to whether they attend school or not.
Further, “Attending school” is classified into
“Primary school, junior or senior high school”,“Junior college” and “College or university,
including graduate school”. “Graduated fromschool” is classified into “Primary school, junioror senior high school”, “Junior college”, “College
or university” and “Graduate school”.
Those who have an equivalent qualification of
graduation from the above-mentioned schools withthe same enrollment qualification and duration ofschool attendance are classified into each of thecorresponding categories.
<Labour force status>
Population aged 15 years old and over is classified
as follows(*) according to the activity in which each
person was engaged in during the reference week.
The following definitions conform to theinternational standard stipulated by the ILO.
(1) Basic Tabulation
Labour force:
Employed person and Unemployed person among
population aged 15 years old and over

Employed person:
Employed person at work and Employed person
not at work
Employed person at work:
All persons who worked for pay or profit, or
worked as unpaid family workers for at least
one hour during the reference week
Employed person not at work:
Among the persons with jobs but not at work
during the reference week
i Employee who did not work during thereference week but who received or were
expected to receive wage or salary(including leave allowance)
ii Self-employed worker who did not work
during the reference week and whose
absence from work has not exceeded 30
days
Family workers who were not at work
during the reference week are classified into
Unemployed person or Not in labour force.
Unemployed person:
Persons who satisfy the following conditions:
i with no job and did no work at all during thereference week (other than Employedperson);ii ready to work if work is available; andiii did any job seeking activity or was preparing
to start a business during the reference week(including waiting on the outcome of job
seeking activity done in the past)
Not in labour force:
Population aged 15 years old and over who are
not classified as Employed person or UnemployedpersonLabour force participation rate:= {(Labour force) / (Population aged 15 years old
and over)}×100
Employment rate:= {(Employed person) / (Population aged 15
years old and over)}×100
Unemployment rate:= {(Unemployed person) / (Labour force)}×100
At workEngaged in work while attending school

Employed person(*)

Labour force

Not at work
Unemployed person

Population
aged 15 years
old and overAttending school
Not in labour force

Housekeeping
Other (elderly persons, etc.)

Engaged mainly in work

Engaged in work while housekeeping

(2) Detailed Tabulation
The category “labour force status” including items
related to “labour underutilization*” has been
applied to Detailed Tabulation since quarterly
average results of Jan.-Mar., 2018 (*).
*“Labour underutilization” composes “Unemployedpersons (ILO 2013)”, “Persons in time-related
underemployment” and “Potential labour force”.
Labour force:
Employed person and Unemployed person among
population aged 15 years old and over
Employed person:
The same definition as the one in “Basic
Tabulation” (refer to above)
Persons in time-related underemployment:
Persons who satisfy the following conditions:
i employed person;
ii whose weekly hours of work was less than
35 hours;iii wishing to work additional hours; andiv able to work additional hours
Unemployed person (ILO 2013):
Persons who satisfy the following conditions:
i with no job and did no work at all during
the reference week (other than employedperson);ii ready to work if work is available; andiii did any job seeking activity or preparing tostart a business within one month including
the reference week (including waiting on
the outcome of job seeking activity done in
the past)
Unemployed person:
The same definition as the one in “Basic
Tabulation” (refer to above)
Not in labour force:
Population aged 15 years old and over who are
not classified as Employed person or Unemployedperson (ILO 2013)

Potential labour force:
Persons correspond to any of the following
among those who are not "Employed person" nor“Unemployed person (ILO2013)
Unavailable jobseekers:
Persons who satisfy the following conditions:i did any job seeking activity within one
month; andii not ready to work currently but would bewithin two weeks
Available potential jobseekers:
Persons who satisfy the following conditions:i did not any job seeking activity within one
month;
ii wishing to work; andiii ready to work if work is available
Labour underutilization indicator 1 (LU1):= {(Unemployed person (ILO 2013)) / (Labour
force)}×100
Labour underutilization indicator 2 (LU2):= {(Unemployed person (ILO 2013) + Persons intime-related underemployment) / (Labour
force)}×100
Labour underutilization indicator 3 (LU3):= {( Unemployed person (ILO 2013) + Potential
labour force) / (Labour force + Potential
labour force)}×100
Labour underutilization indicator 4 (LU4):= {(Unemployed person (ILO 2013) + Persons intime-related underemployment + Potential
labour force) / (Labour force + Potential
labour force)}×100
Supplementary Labour Underutilization Indicator 1:= {( Unemployed person (ILO 2013) who quitted
a job involuntarily) / (Labour force)}×100
Supplementary Labour Underutilization Indicator 2:= {(Unemployed person (ILO 2013) +Unavailable jobseekers) / (Labour force +Unavailable jobseekers)}×100

Employed person(*)

Labour force└────────────Persons in time-related underenployment
Unemployed person (ILO 2013)

Population
aged 15 years└────────────Unemployed person

old and overNot in labour force└────────

Unavailable jobseekers
Potential labour force
Available potential jobseekers

2. Employed person
If persons worked in two or more jobs, they arereferred by their main jobs.
<Status in employment>

Selfemployedworker

Employed
personFamilyworkerWith
employee
Without
employee

Ordinary
without
employeeDoingpieceworkat home

Executive ofcompany or corporation
Employee
Employee excl. executiveof company or corporation

Self-employed worker:
Persons who own and operate unincorporated
enterprises. Self-employed workers are divided
into “Self-employed worker with employee” and“Self-employed worker without employee”.
Self-employed worker with employee:
Self-employed workers who usually employ
one or more employees in their enterprises
Self-employed worker without employee:
Self-employed workers who operate their own
businesses alone or only with members of thefamilyOrdinary without employee:
Self-employed workers without employee
who are not classified as Doing piecework at
home
Doing piecework at home:
Persons who do piecework at home
Family worker:
Unpaid workers who engage in businesses which
are operated by a member of the family
Employee:
Persons who work for wages or salaries as
employees of companies, associations, governments or unincorporated enterprises.
Employees are classified into “Long-term
employee”, “Temporary employee” and “Daily
employee” according to the status in employment.
Executive of company or corporation:
Executives, managing directors and auditors ofprivatecompanies,
associations,publiccorporations, etc.
* Items shown below were applied until results ofDecember 2017.
Long-term employee:
Executive of company or corporation and
Ordinary employee

Ordinary employee:
Persons who work on contract of no
specific period or more than a year
excluding Executive of company or
corporation above mentioned
Indefinite duration contract:
Ordinary employees who work on
contract of no specific period
Limited duration contract:
Ordinary employees who work on
contract of more than a year
Temporary employee:
Persons who work on contract of a month ormore but not more than a year
Daily employee:
Persons who work on a daily basis or on
contract of less than a month<Type of employment>
Employees, excluding Executive of company or
corporation are classified into seven categories of“Regular employee”, “Part-time worker”, “Arbeit(temporary worker)”, “Dispatched worker from
temporary labour agency”, “Contract employee”,“Entrusted employee” and “Other” according to how
they are called at their workplaces. Six categories
except “Regular employee” are classified into
“Non-regular employee”.
<Duration of employment contract>
Employees, excluding Executive of company or
corporation are classified as follows according to
the duration of employment provided in the contract
they have during the reference week.
When working with recurring renewal of theemployment contract at the same establishment,
they are classified according to the duration of
employment provided in the contract they haveduring the reference week instead of theiraccumulated period from when the contract was
originally issued in the beginning.
* Gaps may have possibly been caused by therevision of survey items, hence, items of “Durationof employment contract” cannot be compared withprior indicated items of “Status in employment”
directly (e.g. duration of employment contract “1month or more up to 1 year” cannot be comparedwith “Temporary employee”).
Indefinite duration contract
Limited duration contract
Duration of
employment
contract

Less than 1 month
1 month or more up to 3 months
More than 3 months up to 6 months
More than 6 months up to 1 year
More than 1 year up to 3 years
More than 3 years up to 5 years
Over 5 years
Not knowing the duration
Not sure if the duration is specified

<Weekly days of work> [*1]
It refers to the total actual days of work during thereference week whether it is the main job or not. As
for “Employed person not at work”, it is 0 days.
Average weekly days of work:= (The aggregate weekly days of work) /(Employed person at work: Unknown weeklydays of work is excluded)<Weekly hours of work>
It refers to the total actual hours of work during thereference week. If a person worked at more than
one job during the reference week, all the hours ofwork for each job are summed up. As for“Employed person not at work”, it is 0 hours.
Aggregate weekly hours of work:
The total of Weekly hours of work by adding up
all Employed persons at work
Average weekly hours of work:= (Aggregate weekly hours of work) /(Employed persons at work: Unknown weekly
hours of work is excluded)<Monthly days of work> [*1]
It refers to the total actual days of work during thereference month.
Average monthly days of work:= (The aggregate monthly days of work) /(Scope of tabulation*)*Scope of tabulation: Employed person who
worked a day or more during the month (Unknown
monthly days of work is excluded)<Monthly hours of work>
The following formula is applied to each
Employed person at work.
= {(Weekly hours of work) / (Weekly days ofwork)}×(Monthly days of work)
Average monthly hours of work:= (The aggregate monthly hours of work) /(Employed persons at work: Unknown monthly
days of work is excluded)<Annual days of work> [*1]Average annual days of work:= (The annual total of aggregate monthly days ofwork) / (Annual average number of scopes oftabulation* )*Scope of tabulation for each month: Employedperson who worked a day or more during themonth (Unknown monthly days of work is
excluded)<Annual hours of work> [*1]Average annual hours of work:= (The annual total of aggregate monthly hours ofwork) / (Annual average number of employedpersons at work : Unknown monthly hours ofwork is excluded)<Characteristics of employment>
Industry:
Industry is classified on the basis of the Japan
Standard Industrial Classification (JSIC) according
to the main types of businesses or industries of
establishments, proprietors and so on which
persons were actually engaged in during thereference week.
Dispatched workers from temporary labour
agencies are requested to report the industry of theestablishments which they actually work in(dispatched). This means that they are classified
into each industry. (Until December 2012, theyreported the dispatching industry, which wasclassified into “Services, N.E.C.”.)“Non-agricultural industries” are all industries
except “Agriculture and forestry”. Unclassifiableindustry is classified into “Non-agricultural industries”
for the sake of convenience.
Occupation:
Occupation is classified on the basis of the Japan
Standard Occupational Classification according to
the kinds of works which persons were actuallyengaged in during the reference week.
Dispatched workers from temporary labour
agencies are requested to report the occupation
which they are actually engaged in at an
establishment they are dispatched to.
Number of persons engaged in enterprise:
It refers to the total number of persons who areusually employed in the entire enterprise as awhole, including head offices, branch offices,stores, factories, and so on. As for dispatchedworkers from temporary labour agencies, they areclassified according to the number of persons
engaged in each enterprise which they actuallywork in (dispatched). In case of persons employedby central or local governments etc., they areclassified under the category “Government”,
regardless of the number of persons engaged inenterprises.
Type of organization: [*1]Classified into Unincorporated, Company, Other
corporation and Government. A public corporation,
an educational foundation, medical institution,
religious corporation and other organization arecontained in Other corporation.
<Job tenure> [*2]
The period of time since the Employed person
started to work the present job<Changing jobs> [*2]Changed jobs:
Employed person who left previous jobs in thepast 1 year
Began work:
Employed person who began work in the past 1
year (if the one had a job previously, the one who
left the previous job more than 1 year ago)

Rate of Changed jobs:= {(Changed jobs) / (Employed person)}×100<Whether wishing to change or to haveadditional job> [*2]
Employed persons are classified according totheir desire for work as follows:
Wishing to change
Seeking job
the present job or
to have an additional job Not seeking job
Employed
PersonNot wishing to change
the present job or to have an additional job

Wishing to change the present job or to haveadditional job:
Employed persons who wish to give up theirpresent jobs in order to work in other jobs, or who
wish to have another job in addition to the present
job.
Persons who wish to change the type of work inthe same company are not considered as “wishing
to change the job”.
Seeking job:Among those wishing to change the present
job or to have an additional job, persons who
actually seek jobs or who make arrangements tostart new businesses
Not seeking job:
Persons not classified in “Seeking job”
Not wishing to change the present job or to haveadditional job:
Employed persons other than those wishing tochange the present jobs or those wishing to haveadditional jobs
<Whether wishing to change work time> [*2]
Wishing to have more work time:
Employed persons who wish to increase work
time in the present jobs
Wishing to have less work time:
Employed persons who wish to decrease work
time in the present jobs
3. Unemployed person (ILO 2013) and Unemployedperson<Reason for seeking a job>
Unemployed persons (ILO 2013) and Unemployedpersons are classified as follows according to thereason why a person was seeking a job.
Quitted a job:
“Quitted a job involuntarily” and “Quitted a
job voluntarily”
Quitted a job involuntarily:“Mandatory retirement, or termination of
employment contract” and “Circumstances of
employer or business”

Mandatory retirement, or termination of
employment contract:
Unemployed persons who left the previous
job due to mandatory retirement or termination of employment contract
Circumstances of employer or business:
Unemployed persons who left the previous
job due to circumstances of employer orbusiness (bankruptcy, restructuring, etc.)
Quitted a job voluntarily:
Unemployed persons who left the previous job
due to personal or family circumstances
Newly started to seek a job:
“Graduated from school”, “Necessary to earnrevenue” and “Other”
Graduated from school:
Unemployed persons who newly started to seeka job after graduating from school
Necessary to earn revenue:
Unemployed persons who newly started to seeka job with it being necessary to earn revenue
Other:
Unemployed persons who newly started to seeka job for other reasons<Method used to seek a job> [*2]
If there were two or more methods, all methods
were answered, and the main method was
distinguished.
<Duration of unemployment> [*2]
It refers to the period of time during which persons
with no jobs have been doing any job seeking
activities or preparing to start a business.
<Unemployed person (ILO 2013) and unemployedperson who left the previous job> [*2]
Unemployed person (ILO 2013) and unemployedperson with previous jobs whose reason of seeking
jobs is “Quitted a job”
4. Not in labour force<Whether wishing to work> [*2]
Not in labour force is classified into the following
three categories according to the desire for work.
Wishing to work:
Persons who wish to be engaged in a job
Waiting to start a new job:
Persons who had made arrangements to take up paid
employment or undertake self-employment activity
Not wishing to work:
Persons who don’t wish to work
5. Person who had a job previously<When left the previous job> [*2]Persons who left the previous jobs are classified
into the following three categories according towhen they left the previous jobs. With regard to“Status in employment of the previous job”, “Typeof employment of the previous job”, “Industry of
the previous job”, “Occupation of the previous job”
and “Number of persons engaged in the previous
enterprise”, only the results of persons who left theprevious jobs in the past 3 years are tabulated.
i Left the previous job more than 3 years ago
ii Left the previous job within more than 1 to
3 yearsiii Left the previous job in the past 1 year

6. Household<Type of household>Two-or-more-person household:A household composed of a group of two or more
persons sharing living quarters and living expenses
One-person household:A household composed of one person who lives byhim/herself in his/her own house, a rented room, adormitory or a boarding house, etc.
Employees who live by themselves in theiremployer’s households are regarded as membersof their employer’s households.
As for inmates of a social institution such as anaged people’s home and inpatients who have been
hospitalized in a hospital for three months or more,each person (each couple if they are in the sameroom) composes a household respectively.
<Relative household>A household composed of the head ofhousehold and one or more of his/her family
members<Nuclear family household>Among relative households, a household whosefamily members are composed of “the head ofhousehold and spouse of the head of household” or“parent(s), and his/her child(ren)”<Household of couple>
Household of couple refers to the following among
Two-or-more-person households composed of thehead of household and other family members only:i Household of couple onlyii Household of couple and their parent(s)iii Household of couple and their child(ren)iv Household of couple, their child(ren) andparent(s)In this classification, “Couple” means the youngest
couple in the household. If there are two or more
couples, it refers to the youngest husband’s couple
in the household.
“Husband” or “Wife” applies to only the coupleand “Parent” or “Child” (never-married) means thatof the couple.

<Mother-child household>A household composed of a single-female-parent
and unmarried child aged 19 years old or younger
only<Aged-person household>Households that satisfy the following conditions
are classified as Aged-person households.
i Two-or-more-person household of a maleaged 65 years old and over and a female
aged 60 years old and over only
ii Two-or-more-person household of males
aged 65 years old and over only
iii Two-or-more-person household of females
aged 60 years old and over only, with at least
one female aged 65 years old and overiv One-person household of a person aged 65
years old and over (elderly one-personhousehold)