This change substantially alters key labor market indicators such as the employment and unemployment rates, particularly in countries with high levels of subsistence farming (Global Strategy, 2018). In Rwanda, for instance, according to the 2018 LFS, the ‘new’ employment rate equals 44.8%, while the employment rate equals 75.5% if the ‘old’ definition of employment is used (NISR, 2018, p. 34). The LSMS‐ISA surveys in Malawi (2016/17) and Nigeria (2014/15) ‐ the only LSMS‐ISA surveys which allow distinguishing own‐use producers from market‐producers ‐ also reveal a large effect of the new definition on the employment rate. In Nigeria, for instance, the employment rate of the working‐age population (15 to 65 years old) changes from 65% to 40% if own‐use producers are not classified as employed. Young people are even more affected (from 39% to 18%). The overall effect is mainly driven by the reclassification of subsistence farmers. While 43% of Nigeria’s working‐age population engages in household farming, only 20% produces primarily for the market (see Figure B in the Appendix for detailed results, broken down by sex and age). The new definition may disproportionally affect the female employment rate, as women are more likely to engage in own‐use production (Gaddis & Palacios‐Lopez, 2018; Walsh, 2018). However, analyses for Malawi (Figure B in the Appendix) and Nigeria (Koolwal, 2019) do not confirm this hypothesis. In Malawi and Nigeria, women are only slightly more likely to be own‐use producers than men.

In practice, not all national statistical offices have already implemented the new definition of employment and continue to classify ‘persons exclusively engaged in own‐use production’ as employed. One reason is that distinguishing agricultural households that _mainly produce for own final use_ from agricultural household that _mainly produce for the market_ is difficult (Global Strategy, 2018). This requires at least one additional question in household surveys about the intended destination of the produced goods (Benes & Walsh, 2018d).

The resolutions of the 19<sup>th</sup> ICLS do not affect the definition of unemployment. Person are unemployed if they i) are not currently employed; ii) are seeking employment (desire to work for pay or profit) or to start a business; and iii) are available to start a new job in a specified time period (19<sup>th</sup> ICLS, §47). This requires at least two additional questions: one evaluating whether the person was actively seeking a job (during the last four weeks), often operationalized by asking about job search strategies, and a second question evaluating whether the person is available to work (in the next two weeks). These questions should also be asked to subsistence farmers since they are not considered employed but may be looking for employment. While keeping the definition of unemployment unaltered, the 19<sup>th</sup> ICLS complemented the unemployment rate<sup>8</sup> , the traditional indicator of labor slack, with the time‐ related underemployment indicators that measures the desire and availability to work additional hours (19<sup>th</sup> ICLS, §40). These new indicators address the growing demand for

> regard to own‐use producers. 40% of the national statistical offices include at least some own‐use producers in the definition of employment. This approach is particularly prevalent for persons producing agricultural products for own use, whereas only a few statistical offices include persons constructing their own dwelling or fetching water in their definition of employment (ILO, 2013b). A recent update of this study shows that 35 out of 119 countries currently include all own‐use producers of foodstuff in employment (ILO, 2018d).

> 8 The unemployment rate was indirectly affected by the ICLS resolutions as the definition of the labor force (i.e. the denominator of the unemployment rate) was revised.

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