I. Main contents of this chapter
Data in this chapter show the bas ic conditions of China's labour economy, including the main data of labour statistics of
the whole country and 31 provinces , autonomous regions and municipalities under the direct leadership of the central
government, such as the economically active population, number of the employed persons and staff and workers, number of
persons employed in the urban and rural private enterpris es and s elfemployed persons in industry and commerce, number
of registered unemployed persons in urban areas, total wages and average wages of the staff and workers and the changes
in index, etc.

II. Coverage of statis tics
The Comprehensive Labour Statistics Reporting System covers all independent accounting units. The Sample Survey on
the Population Changes covers the population of the whole country. The Urban Labour Force Survey covers urban population
aged 15 and over and the s tatistics from the survey refer to population aged 16 and over. The Rural Social and Economic
Survey covers all rural areas below township level in China. The Statistical Reporting Sys tem on Training and Employment
covers all urban population of China. The Statistical Reports on Private Enterpris es and Individual Indus trial and Commercial
Bus ines s cover the whole society. Data on economically active population, total employed population and employed
population by urban and rural areas are adjusted on the basis of the 2000 population census , therefore the breakdown of
thes e data by province, by type of ownership and by industry do not add up to the totals. Adjustments are also made with
regard to the definition of urban employed population, total number of workers and staff and other related statistics since
1998.

III. Source of data
(1) Data on basic conditions of employment (tables 5-1 to 5-14), total wage bill of workers and staff (tables 5-19 to 5-28),
and data on urban employed persons by industry, occupation, education attainment and s tatus of employment and on urban
unemployed persons by cause of unemployment (tables 5-29 to 5-34) are collected and compiled through the
Comprehensive Labour Statistics Reporting System, the Sample Survey on the Population Changes , the Urban Labour Force
Survey and the Rural Social and Economic Survey by the Department of Population, Social and Science Statistics of the
National Bureau of Statis tics.

(2) Data on the urban regis tered unemployed persons and on the career services and the exchanges of labour force (tables
5- 1 and 5-35) are collected through the Statistical Reporting System on Training and Employment and provided by the Minis
try of Labour and Social Security.

(3) Data on the number of persons employed in the urban and rural private enterprises and self-employed persons in indus
try and commerce (tables 5-15 to 5-18) are provided by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

IV. Survey methodology
A complete reporting from lower levels to higher levels is us ed in the Labour Statistics Reporting System. The Sample
Surveys on Population Changes and the Urban Labour Force Survey are conducted with a multi-stage stratified cluster s
ampling scheme. Statistics on training, employment, private enterpris es and self-employed individuals are collected and
compiled on basis of administrative records.

V. Since 1989, China Labour Statistical Yearbook has been jointly published by the National Bureau of Statistics and the
Ministry of Labour and Social Security, which provides more detailed data than thos e in this chapter.