DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12622551
title: Labour Law Database, with Codebook

description: The WageIndicator Labour Law Database aims to collect information about national Labour Law. The database is used to publish relevant clauses with information about the national Labour Law on the national WageIndicator websites and on the home page of WageIndicator (see National Labour Law Information - WageIndicator.org). All Labour Law clauses in the database are also coded, according to a coding scheme, as presented in the attached codebook. These codes support the generation of the biennial Labour Rights Index for all countries in the database (see https://labourrightsindex.org/). 

The Index is a de jure index that measures major aspects of employment regulation affecting a worker during the employment life cycle. The Labour Rights Index covers 10 topics/indica tors and 46 evaluation criteria. All of these are based on substantive elements of the Decent Work Agenda. The criteria are all grounded in UDHR, five UN Conventions, five ILO Declarations, 35 ILO Conventions, and four ILO Recommendations.

The Labour Law database is used for the Decent Work Check, a tried and tested WageIndicator product. Created together with trade unions and employers organisations and WageIndicator teams. The Decent Work Check is used as an offline tool - in print. The check works as an awareness tool and a quick check of your labour law knowledge. The Decent Work Check is seen as an eyeopener for workers, trade unionists, employers and even labour inspectors. The data collection started in 2013 with 16 countries, and gradually more countries were added. As of today, the WageIndicator Labour Law Database holds detailed country profiles for 118 countries. More countries are scheduled for the years to come (see https://wageindicator.org/labour-laws/labour-law-around-the-world/decent-work-check). Each year, the national labour laws are checked for updates. In addition,  the database is also used to generate Decent Work Surveys, whereby workers are informed about the  compliance of their job with the Labour Law. In 2024 these Surveys are running in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Indonesia (see https://wageindicator.org/about/projects/multi-actor-partnership-for-improved-due-diligence-implementation-in-the-textile-sector-via-worker-and-community-based-monitoring, https://wageindicator.org/about/projects/living-wages-in-flowers-garment-leather-in-ethiopia-phase-iii, 

https://wageindicator.org/about/projects/makin-terang-improving-work-and-worker-representation-in-indonesia). 

The data collection method is through desk research, which is possible because all national laws can be accessed  through the Internet. The database is based on more than 13 years  of research by WageIndicator Foundation (Netherlands) and its labour law office, i.e., the Centre for Labour Research (Pakistan). More than 30 WageIndicator team members have contributed to the Index by providing relevant data informing various indicators under the Index. 

The WageIndicator Labour Law Database includes coded labour law data for all countries with a Decent Work Check plus for countries that are scheduled to be included for the Decent Work Check tool. The codes for the Decent Work Check countries are double checked, which is not yet the case for the countries not yet included. The list of these Decent Work Check countries can be found in Table 5 in the Codebook. Table 1 provides a list of all variables and values in the database; variable type and value labels; number of observations and minimum and maximum values. Table 2 holds a list of industries, according to the NACE industry classification. Table 3 has a list of the job titles, coded according to. Table 4 includes a list of the codes and names of the bank holidays.