The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has taken a significant step towards harmonizing labor market statistics across the region.
A technical workshop, organized in Johannesburg with the support of the World Bank and the International Labour Organization (ILO), brought together experts from national statistical offices and ministries of labor to discuss and standardize the collection and sharing of employment data.
This initiative aims to lay the groundwork for the development of the SADC Labor Market Observatory (LMO), which is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2025. The LMO will play a crucial role in monitoring employment trends and informing evidence-based policymaking within the SADC region.
While most SADC member states currently employ international standards for labor force surveys, significant challenges remain in harmonizing methodologies across the region. This workshop focused on addressing these challenges by exploring the use of SDMX (Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange) and developing data models to ensure comparability and consistency in data collection and reporting.
The harmonized data will be instrumental in supporting the implementation of the SADC Regional Strategic Plan 2020-2030 and the Industrialization Strategy 2015-2063.
SADC will continue to collaborate closely with the World Bank and ILO to strengthen the statistical capacities of its member states and ensure the successful development and implementation of the SADC Labor Market Observatory.
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