Objectives, Uses and Types of Labor Force Data in Relation to Economic Policy

Abstract

The kinds of labor force statistics developed should be determined by their uses. The full employment goal of national economic policy in the United States gives rise to the need for labor force statistics which can serve as a barometer of the state of functioning of the economy and which can identify the sectors of the Nation's workers for whom the economy is not providing full employment opportunity. This treatment is primarily of the implications of such objectives for the types of labor force data needed, although it is recognized that labor force data have many other uses.

Labor force statistics include data obtained from employing establishments, registrations, and population surveys, with each type having advantage for certain types of uses. Labor force data from population surveys need to be expanded to provide differentiated categories of the unemployed and to identify those employed workers whose employment is inadequate because it is insufficient in amount or is remunerated at substandard rates. The development of these and further geographic differentiations would increase the utility of labor force data in relation to economic policy.