Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Labour Statistics Convention, 1985 (No. 160) - Panama (Ratification: 1996)

Article 9(1)–(2) of the Convention. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would continue to communicate to the ILO updated statistics as soon as they become available for dissemination (Article 9(1)) and to provide information on steps taken to compile statistics on wage rates actually paid and normal hours of work (Article 9(2)).

The Committee draws the attention of the Government to Resolution I[1] concerning the Measurement of Working Time adopted by the 18th International Conference of Labour Statistics (ICLS) in November–December 2008, which defines new concepts and measures in this area of statistics.

Article 10. The Government indicates that statistics of the distribution of employees are being compiled through administrative reports of the public and private sectors. However no information has been provided on whether statistics on the structure of earnings and hours of work are actually compiled in accordance with the guidelines set forth in Paragraph 5(1) and (2) of the Labour Statistics Recommendation, 1985 (No. 170), (in accordance with Article 2). The Committee again asks the Government to indicate whether it envisages to compile statistics on the structure of earnings and hours of work.

Article 12. The Committee requests the Government, once more, to indicate which of the international labour standards was used as a basis for calculation of the consumer price index (in the context of Article 2).

Article 13. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate whether it envisages to reduce the period of time between two surveys according to the recommendation of the 17th ICLS Resolution concerning household income and expenditure statistics adopted in 2003.

Article 14. The Committee expresses the hope that the compilation of data can be improved and once again requests the Government to indicate: (i) the steps taken or envisaged to extend the coverage of the statistics to include the self-employed and lost working time; (ii) the international standards taken into consideration (in the context of Article 2); and (iii) the steps taken or envisaged to publish methodological information (Article 6).

Article 15. The Committee takes due note of the information supplied by the Government in reply to its previous comments. The Committee once again requests the Government to indicate: (i) which of the international standards are used (in the context of Article 2); and (ii) which steps, if any, are envisaged to publish methodological information (Article 6).

Article 16. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government that the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censo (INEC) collects information on the labour cost by economic activity. The Committee hopes that the Government will continue to supply any statistics compiled on the subjects covered by Article 11, as well as particulars of their resources, methodology and publication, in accordance with Article 16(4).