ILO Launches Statistics Database of Global Labour Market & Consumer Prices

21st October 2010, www.island.lk

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has launched a new statistics database containing timely information on the labour market and consumer prices aimed at providing vital information needed by policy makers faced with a global economic and social crisis.

The new database Short term indicators of the labour market (STI) was launched by the ILO Department of Statistics on World Statistics Day (20 October) and will be updated each month with the latest national data for indicators reflecting recent and short-term changes on the labour market.

"Governments, employers’ organizations, trade unions, labour market analysts and the media can now count on an improved labour statistics tool, allowing them to better monitor, understand, and analyze the recent events in labour markets", said Rafael Diez de Medina, Director of the ILO Department of Statistics.

The new database contains selected indicators for some 70 countries and territories that gather infra-annual information for the current year. In addition, 40 indicators are available disaggregated by sex. It can be found at http://laborsta.ilo.org/sti/sti_E.html

The new service also includes an interactive map containing most of the data organized by country and topic. Country profiles provide a quick and accurate snapshot of each country’s labour market situation, while information organized by topic allows for cross-country comparison and global analysis. Data are collected in close contact with National Statistical Offices and the process has been optimized in order to extract the greatest amount of information in the shortest period of time.

Especially interesting is the inclusion of seasonally adjusted sectoral data. In the first case, official adjustments were compiled for countries which adjust their data and the ILO has adjusted the time series in the rest of the cases.

The information has passed through quality controls but is nonetheless subject to revisions that the countries may undertake in the future. Users can obtain a printable page with latest data and information can be downloaded to Excel files.

Related Info:
View and download data and metadata for over 200 countries or territories from LABORSTA, an International Labour Office database on labour statistics operated by the ILO Department of Statistics

Sri Lanka Ranked Second in Stock Market Performances. Russia Topped the List

19th December 2009, www.dailynews.lk

Sri Lanka has been ranked second in stock market performances this year, South Korea based Samsung Securities said yesterday.

Russia topped the list as its benchmark index jumped 121 percent this year, a sharp turnaround from a 72.4 percent drop in 2008. Sri Lanka came in second with a 114.6 percent growth, followed by Argentina at 105.1 percent and Brazil at 84.6 percent, China at 79.8 percent and India at 79.1 percent.

In general, emerging markets have outperformed developed ones as increasingly risk-averse global investors put more money into shares and other assets in developing countries on the back of the easing of the international financial debacle.

They borrowed money from the US and other crisis-hit advanced countries with low interest rates to buy stocks in emerging markets for larger returns, the South Korean media reported.

The US and other advanced countries posted a relatively sluggish upturn this year, weighed down by high unemployment and other continued unfavourable economic conditions.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index for 22 developing economies increased 56.4 percent in 2009, but the index for 23 advanced countries rose at a slower rate of 20.9 percent.

A Samsung Securities analyst said despite a substantial rebound from their lows in late 2008, emerging markets have yet to reach their highest level, which was set in 2007, adding that advanced markets are still 25 percent lower, compared to their 2007 highs.

Meanwhile data compiled by Reuters also put Sri Lanka among the top 10 performing stock markets in 2009. In the Reuters data, Russia was the best performing stock market in the world in the last 10 years, surging 890 percent in dollar value, though 1999-2009 returns from government debt generally outstripped those generated by equities.