UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE
PACIFICSTATISTICAL INSTITUTE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC (SIAP)
andINTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION (ILO)

Regional Course on SDGs Indicators:
Measuring decent work in the context of the SDGs
19 – 22 November 2018, Chiba, Japan
Collaborating agencies: United Nations Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP),
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP); International Labour
Organization (ILO).

I. Introduction:
The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations summitin September 2015 and the subsequent identification of a comprehensive global indicator
framework have re-emphasised the need to produce statistics at the national, regionaland global levels as indispensable for monitoring progress towards the defined goals andtargets. Being universal, the agenda requires more empirical evidence and benchmarks
and has called for a “data revolution”.
Decent work is central to efforts to reduce poverty and is a means for achieving equitable,inclusive and sustainable development. The importance of decent work in achieving
sustainable development has been recognized by the 2030 global development agenda,
as highlighted by Goal 8 which aims to “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainableeconomic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all”, but also as
enshrined in many other Goals and Targets of the SDGs.
To contribute to the monitoring of SDGs decent work related Targets, countries will needto further strengthen their labour market statistical systems across a range of activities
including:•Implementation of the most recent labour statistics standards, such as theresolution on work statistics from the 19th International Conference of Labour
Statisticians (19th ICLS);•Strong coordination between various data producers and data users;•Technical capacity to plan, design and implement surveys and other statisticalsources;•Capacity to produce and disseminate relevant and sound analysis, and to monitor

1|Pageprogress towards Decent Work within the context of SDGs; and•Enhance international comparability of statistical concepts while adapting global
indicators to national realities.

Building on long experience in delivering training on labour market statistics, the ILO
Department of Statistics, the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and the UNESCAP
Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific have prepared this Regional Course of SDGs,
with focus on SDG decent work indicators. The course is a shortened regional version ofthe ILO Labour Market Statistics Academy (LMSA), organised annually in Turin by the ILO
Department of Statistics and the ILO International Training Centre (ITC).

II. Objectives:
The main objective of the Course is to better equip and situate national and international
stakeholders in the new SDGs statistical monitoring system. It is designed to enhance
institutional capacity to identify, collect, analyse and disseminate labour market
information and other indicators related to decent work. It emphasises the 19th ICLS
resolution on statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization as an importantpillar of the new SDG indicator framework, not only for targets in Goal 8 but also in otherGoals related to the decent work agenda.
More specifically, the Course will aim to:•Enhance understanding about the new SDG indicator framework including thelink to the international system defined by the UN for national and global
monitoring;•Expand knowledge on how decent work-related SDGs and targets could bemonitored using existing international statistical standards;•

Foster better understanding and operationalization of key international statisticalstandards including the 19th ICLS resolution on statistics of work, employment
and labour underutilization;•

Promote best practices in labour force surveys, including sample andquestionnaire design;•

Promote gender mainstreaming in the production of labour statistics and in thedefinition of the relevant SDG indicators;•

Promote sound statistical data processing and analysis of indicators bydemonstrating good practices in labour market information systems and SDG
monitoring strategies.

III. Target audience:
Representatives of ILO member States in Asia and the Pacific (a) with existing regular datacollection systems of labour statistics, such as those with labour force surveys, aiming toreview and improve their data; and (b) countries with immediate plans to implement
labour statistics systems or related surveys.
The target qualification of the Course includes:
2|Page•Labour Statisticians from national statistical offices, ministries of labour andrelated institutions (such as labour observatories), other ministries orgovernment institution in charge of SDG statistical monitoring;•Employment and development policy analysts from national statistical offices,
government ministries, research and academic institutions, internationalorganisations and donor organisations; and•

Officials responsible for managing the production and dissemination of labour
market statistics, particularly for the SDG national reporting.

Countries will be invited to nominate potential participants. Nominees should be middlelevel to senior-level with the above qualifications. Nominees should have experience
working on labour force statistics as survey statisticians, and/or data analysts in supportof policy analysis on labour market information, and have some awareness of sustainable
development goals. At most two qualified participants per country will be accepted forthe training; selection will be based on the information provided in the nomination form
for the course.
The provisional list of proposed countries for the 2018 Course is as follow: Bangladesh,
Brunei Darussalam, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia,Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Additional institutions
to be invited will include: ADB, ASEAN, SPC, and UNESCAP Statistics.

IV. Course methodology and content, main modules:
The training methodology for this course is designed to ensure a ‘learning-by-doing’
process that encourages the sharing of knowledge, experiences and best practices among
participants. It will combine lectures by experts and practitioners with participatory
individual exercises and group work. Country experience and examples will have a greatpart in the content.
The Course will follow a path that starts from reviewing the understanding of main SDGsdecent work indicators, data sources, and data collection methods; to data processing of
microdata and other sources to produce the indicators; and the interpretation and use of
the indicators for analysis and policy formulation.
The Course will be organised in the following 3 modules:

Module One: Conceptual framework of SDG decent work indicators•

Statistical definition of main SDGs decent work indicators•

Mapping national practices and definitions to international definitions: Issues andpractices in aiming for international comparability•

Main sources of data: international recommendations and national practice•Data collection
experiences.

3|Pageprogrammes:

international

recommendations,

national

Module Two: Data production and analysis
Focus on data preparation, micro data management, and the use of statistical software
ensuring alignment with international standards, metadata and data quality; datainterpretation. Concrete work groups using STATA.
•Producing estimates of main SDGs decent work indicators: international andnational practices, and comparability issues•

Presenting and using statistics on main SDGs indicators for identifying target
groups left behind, national policy making, and international reporting.

Module Three: Way forward•Country plans for SDGs decent work indicators data production, labour statistics
systems, etc;

•Possible support from ESCAP Regional Programmes (Economic Statistics,Population and Social Statistics, Gender Statistics, SIAP training courses, etc.).

V. Training Design:
The training course will cover the topics listed above. It is designed to present/review
concepts and definitions and measurement methods and to discuss practical issues andpossible solutions relating to their applications and use. The course is organized intomodules; each module consists of a set of training sessions. Training activities within eachtraining session will be a mix of expert presentations on the main topics, country-led
discussions and presentations on applications, issues and lessons learned and workingwith-data/design small-group work.

VI. Preparatory Activities:
Participants to the course need to prepare a summary country report that covers thefollowing:●Status of labour force data and statistics
1. SDG decent work-related indicators, with a focus on those for which ILO isproposed as the custodian agency
2. Presentation of time series of available SDGs decent work indicators.

●Data collection programmes and plans covering SDGs decent work indicators.

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