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2025 1st International Symposium on the Modernization of Labour Statistics Hosted by KOSTAT and ILO
KOSTAT and ILO Are Hosting the 1st International Symposium on the Modernization of Labour Statistics Korea Is Leading Global Dialogue with Experts from 18 Nations to Drive Innovation in Labour StatisticsStatistics Korea (KOSTAT), led by Commissioner Ahn Hyungjun, is hosting the 1st International Symposium on the Modernization of Labour Statistics in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO). The two-day event is taking place from Tuesday, September 23 to Wednesday, September 24, 2025 at Hotel Naru Seoul MGallery.The symposium is bringing together representatives from major international organizations, including the ILO, UNSD, UNESCAP, and Eurostat, alongside labour statistics experts from 18 representative countries* across all continents. Participants are engaging in high-level discussions on innovative strategies to modernize labour force surveys.* Asia-Pacific: Korea, Japan, China, Australia, Vietnam, Singapore Europe: UK, Italy, Finland, Poland, Denmark, Ireland, Türkiye Africa: Botswana South America: Mexico, Brazil, Chile, ColombiaWhy Modernize Labour Statistics?While labour statistics are foundational to crafting national economic and social policies, national statistical offices (NSOs) worldwide are facing growing challenges. Rising operational costs and declining response rates have made it increasingly difficult to maintain data quality. Furthermore, there is a surging demand for more granular data to capture a rapidly changing labour market, characterized by evolving working conditions, rising migrant labor, and the expansion of digital platform employment.Building on a decade of close partnership with the ILO since 2015 to strengthen statistical capacity in the Asia-Pacific, KOSTAT launched this new global forum to expand the scope of cooperation worldwide. This symposium is scheduled to be held biennially, serving as a permanent platform for international dialogue on labour statistics.Key Agenda and SessionsThe symposium features a keynote panel discussion and six thematic sessions. The keynote panel offers deep insights into the challenges and future directions of labour surveys from the diverse perspectives of data producers, users, and international organizations.The six thematic sessions showcase national innovations in: • Improving response rates and data quality • Survey modularization and integration • Integrating survey and administrative data • Data governance • Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) • New communication strategiesTo ensure global accessibility, the event is being live-streamed on YouTube, allowing labour experts worldwide to participate remotely.Future Outlook and Expected ImpactMr. Rafael Diez de Medina, Director of the ILO Department of Statistics, noted: "Our ongoing partnership with KOSTAT is instrumental to the ILO’s efforts in modernizing labour statistics. This symposium will serve as a vital platform for sharing innovative practices across nations."In their congratulatory video messages, Ms. Rachael Beaven, Director of the Statistics Division at UNESCAP, and Ms. Mariana Kotzeva, Director-General of Eurostat, welcomed the launch of this global dialogue.Commissioner Ahn Hyungjun of KOSTAT emphasized: "This symposium marks a pivotal starting point for global cooperation in enhancing labour statistics. KOSTAT remains committed to exploring the future of labour data and finding innovative solutions to meet the demands of our rapidly changing times."The symposium is expected to foster a vibrant exchange of knowledge and accelerate the adoption of innovative survey methodologies. By co-hosting this event with the ILO, KOSTAT aims to solidify Korea’s role as a central hub for international cooperation in the modernization of labour statistics.
- No.25
- Date2025-09-30
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2024 - A Decade of Journey in International Labour Migration Statistics
A Decade of Journey in International Labour Migration Statistics: KOSTAT and ILO Led Statistical Capacity Building in the Asia-Pacific RegionStatistics Korea (KOSTAT) Is Hosting the 10th Workshop on International Labour Migration Statistics in Partnership with the ILOStatistics Korea (KOSTAT), led by Commissioner Lee Hyoung Il, is hosting the 10th KOSTAT and ILO Workshop on International Labour Migration Statistics in the Asia and Pacific Region from Monday, September 30 to Wednesday, October 2, 2025 at Hotel Naru Seoul MGallery.International labour migration statistics track the scale and characteristics such as gender, age, country of origin, economic status, of workers moving across borders for employment using various data sources. As global labour migration rises, these statistics have become increasingly vital for understanding economic and social impacts and for protecting the rights and welfare of migrant workers.Since signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2015, KOSTAT has held this annual workshop to strengthen the capacity of countries in the Asia-Pacific region to produce reliable labour migration data. Through this forum, the ILO is providing training on international standards, while participating countries share methodologies and practical experiences.Celebrating 10 Years of Collaboration and Achievement2025 marks a significant milestone as the workshop celebrates its 10th anniversary. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, KOSTAT and the ILO sustained their efforts through virtual sessions to ensure the continuous development of statistical capacities in the region.The 10th workshop is being attended by approximately 60 representatives from NSOs, ministries of labor, and ministries of justice from 16 countries, including Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Georgia, and Fiji. Countries such as Fiji, Samoa, and Georgia also sent video messages expressing their gratitude for the long-standing support from KOSTAT and the ILO.In his opening remarks, Commissioner Lee Hyoung Il stated, "I would like to express my gratitude to the Asia-Pacific nations for their dedication to producing international labour migration statistics over the past decade. Building on these achievements, KOSTAT will continue to collaborate with the ILO to take the production of these statistics to the next level."Mr. Rafael Diez de Medina, Director of the ILO Department of Statistics, attended the event in person to commemorate the anniversary. He emphasized in his welcoming speech, "Thanks to KOSTAT’s steadfast support, the number of countries producing international labour migration statistics has expanded significantly, contributing greatly to the establishment of the ILO’s global database." Notably, the number of countries providing data to the KOSTAT-ILO joint database grew from 27 in 2018 to 160 in 2023.Sessions and Knowledge Sharing at the 10th WorkshopThe workshop features 10 general sessions covering topics such as: · the evolution of international labour migration statistics over the past decade · international standards and national experiences in producing statistics for migrant and return workers · measuring recruitment costs for migrant workersParticipants are also visiting the Seoul Regional Statistics Office to observe KOSTAT’s survey methodologies, including the Economically Active Population Survey and the Survey on Immigrants’ Living Conditions and Labour Force, to discuss further improvements in data production. A special 10th-anniversary panel session involving government, labor, management, academia, and international organizations are addressing "Current and Future Data Demands for International Labour Migration and Mobility."Future Plans and New ChallengesSince 2015, KOSTAT and the ILO pursued various initiatives beyond workshops, including developing guidelines, producing video training materials, and creating e-learning courses for measuring recruitment costs.Commissioner Lee added, "In June this year, KOSTAT signed a third MOU with the ILO for the next five years. Moving forward, we plan to expand our cooperation into new areas, such as digital platform employment, and continue our efforts for the advancement of international labour statistics."
- No.24
- Date2024-09-30
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Statistics Korea and OECD Co-host Conference on Data Innovation
Statistics Korea and OECD Co-host Conference on Data Innovation - Introducing Timely Statistical Production Techniques Using New Data Such as Big Data - Discussing the Production and Utilization of High-Quality Data Through Innovations Such as Natural Language Processing and Nowcasting - Sharing Data Innovation Challenges Among International Organizations, Governments, the Private Sector and Other Economic Actors Statistics Korea, led by Commissioner Lee Hyung-il, collaborated with the OECD's Statistics and Data Directorate (SDD) to jointly host the KOSTAT-OECD Conference on Novel Data for Economic Resilience on September 21 (Thursday) at the Walkerhill Hotel in Seoul. This conference aimed to share data innovation activities and experiences that the OECD and Korea have promoted to measure economic trends and policy effects in a more timely and accurate manner amid the rapidly changing global landscape. Representatives from international organizations, government agencies, and private companies engaged in discussions on various techniques and policy challenges related to utilizing big data and new data sources to produce more timely and granular data.
- No.23
- Date2023-09-21
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Statistics Korea and OECD Co-host International Conference on Measuring Well-being ‘Beyond GDP’: Asia, South-East Asia, and Korea
Statistics Korea and OECD Co-host International Conference on Measuring Well-being ‘Beyond GDP’: Asia, South-East Asia, and Korea - Emphasizing the Importance of Comprehensive Well-being Measurement, Including Qualitative Dimensions, and Sharing Well-being Measurement Experiences across Asia-Pacific Nations - Presenting Korea's 'Quality of Life Indicators', Including 'Quality of Life for Children and Youth', as a Best Practice for Asia - Attended by the Deputy Secretary-General of OECD, Vice-Chair of the Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy, and Others Statistics Korea, led by Commissioner Lee Hyung-il, co-hosted the International Conference on Measuring Well-being ‘Beyond GDP’: Asia, South-East Asia, and Korea on September 19 (Tuesday) and 20 (Wednesday) in collaboration with the OECD Centre on Well-being, Inclusion, Sustainability, and Equal Opportunity (WISE) at the Walkerhill Hotel in Seoul. The conference served as a platform for Asia-Pacific countries to exchange and disseminate valuable experiences in measuring diverse dimensions of well-being, including qualitative aspects, to overcome the limitations of GDP-centered material measurement, and engage in discussions on policy applications.
- No.22
- Date2023-09-19
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Commissioner Ryu Invited to IMSI Workshop to Deliver a Keynote Speech
Commissioner Ryu Invited to IMSI Workshop to Deliver a Keynote Speech -‘Hub and Spokes Model for Governmental Data’- □ Commissioner Keunkwan Ryu delivered his keynote address at the Private AI Workshop organized online by the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI)* on February 7 to February 12 (between 5 a.m. and 8:40 a.m. Korean time). * IMSI: A research institute funded by the National Science Foundation, which aims to apply mathematics and statistics to societal and scientific problems and to foster innovation ○ Under the theme of ‘Machine Learning on Encrypted Data’, the Workshop brought together many internationally recognized scholars and experts, including Vinod Vaikuntanathan of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kristin Lauter of Facebook AI Research, and Shai Halevi of Algorand Foundation. ○ Participants at the workshop examined a range of solutions to technological challenges in applying innovative developments in machine learning and AI, with particular focus on privacy protection. □ In his keynote speech titled ‘A Hub and Spokes Model for Governmental Statistics’, Commissioner Ryu presented the K-Statistics System currently under development by Statistics Korea (KOSTAT), in which public data are stored, linked, merged, and utilized in a safe manner. He also shared KOSTAT’s experience from a pilot project and suggested future direction for the K-Statistics System. ○ Through the K-Statistics System, data are currently being linked within the Statistics Data Centers of KOSTAT. Commissioner Ryu said the System will be employing leading edge technologies, such as homomorphic encryption, differential privacy, and synthetic data, for further enhancing its data protection mechanism. In addition, efforts are being made to revise the Statistics Act which will ensure legal grounding for the utilization of administrative data. ○ In addition, Commissioner Ryu introduced a pilot project which analyzed the survival patterns of SMEs using data linkage between KOSTAT’s statistical registers and the SMEs dataset of the Municipality of Gyeonggi-do. The pilot case attracted much attention from the participants of the workshop as it demonstrated logistic regression analysis, using linked data which remained encrypted throughout the process. □ Commissioner Ryu concluded his remarks by sharing his prospects that the development of the K-Statistics System will boost data value for and cooperation among the government agencies, whereby it can further contribute to strengthening evidence-based policies. He added that technologies applied to the System will be shared with relevant international communities. LINK : https://youtu.be/qlxahxBkOU8
- No.21
- Date2022-02-11
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The 4th Annual Seoul Symposium on Ageing and Low-Fertility
Statistics Korea to Hold the 4th Annual Seoul Symposium on Ageing and Low-Fertility with The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) The Statistics Korea (Commissioner Kang Shin-wook) held the 4th Annual Seoul Symposium on Ageing and Low-Fertility at 8 pm Tuesday 8th December in cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
- No.20
- Date2020-12-09
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The 6th International Conference on Big Data for Official Statistics
The Statistics Korea (Commissioner Kang Shin-wook) held the 6th Big Data Conference in cooperation with the United Nations for three days from Monday, 31st August to Wednesday, 2nd September.
- No.19
- Date2020-08-31
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Statistics Korea held the Second Technical Meeting of the Titchfield City Group on Ageing
□ Statistics Korea held the Second Technical Meeting of the Titchfield City Group on Ageing(TCGA) in Daejeon, South Korea, 11-13 June 2019. The meeting was hosted by Statistics Korea and steered by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) of the United Kingdom. □ Close to 50 representatives of the NSOs around the world and other stakeholders participated in the meeting and contributed to defining the stepping stones of different work strands of the future work program of the TCGA. [ Commissioner Kang delivering his opening remarks ] □ In the opening ceremony, the Commissioner of Statistics Korea, Kang Shin-wook, stressed that any contributions at this Meeting will serve to enrich the futures of none other than our won selves as well as our people. He also mentioned that shared expertise and insights during the meeting would make valuable contributions to well-being. □ Introducing The Titchfield City Group on Ageing The work programme of the TCGA will be conducted during the period 2018-2023, with the help of NSOs around the world, working alongside the UN agencies (UN Women, UN Dept of Economic and Social Affairs, UN Population Fund, UN Development Programme, World Health Organisation), International Civil society organisations, (HelpAge International and the AARP), UK’s DFID and Academia. The lead is provided by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS). □ Key features of ageing data One of the themes emerging is to better appreciate three key features of age-disaggregated data and ageing-related statistics. o Firstly, population ageing is often understood in a demographic context, in fact, population ageing brings changes across many spheres of society. The ageing data should therefore be cross-cutting, and it should concern multiple areas of social, economic and demographic statistics as well as government finances and public sector statistics. o Secondly, the ageing data are often referred to as the information about the situation of people of a specific age group, such as the health and well-being of older persons. Instead, data and evidence is required about the timing of important transitions of life and how younger phase of life are important in determining outcomes in older ages. o Thirdly, the ageing data should not be just about the individual attributes of older persons and their earlier lives, but it should also include information about the enabling environment in which they have lived. Therefore, the TCGA will develop a substantive conceptual and analytical framework to understand fully the multiple domains of ageing and the processes of ageing on which countries should aim to collect ageing-related data.
- No.18
- Date2019-06-11
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KOSTAT co-hosts the ‘International Seminar on Indicators and Policies for Low Fertility’ with the UNFPA
□ KOSTAT (Commissioner Kang Shin-wook) hosted an international seminar with the topic of indicators and policies for low fertility in coordination with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) at the four seasons hotel in Seoul from December 10th to 11th in 2019. □ The seminar provided a platform for discussing the impact of low fertility, which has become a serious social problem, on society and the economy. Also, it offered an opportunity to share knowledge and experiences with experts from international organizations and advanced countries which faced the low fertility issue earlier than Korea. ○ The seminar included four keynote speeches and five sessions for discussion with expert speakers and panelists from home and abroad who were invited by Statistics Korea, the United Nations Population Fund, the Population Association of Korea and the Korean Economic Association. □ In the opening ceremony on the first day of the seminar, Kim Sang-hee, vice chairman of the Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy and Kang Shin-wook, commissioner of KOSTAT made opening addresses. ○ They stated that KOSTAT aims to strengthen statistical literacy by interpreting and providing a variety of information contained in indicators. This means going beyond simply measuring and providing information on population size and demographic changes, because it is very important to produce meaningful indicators which help identify the root causes of the low fertility problem, which can then be incorporated into policy making. ○ Also, they expressed the hope that the seminar would help better understand low fertility indicators in order to analyze the cause of the low fertility problem and come up with solutions.
- No.17
- Date2018-12-10
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KOSTAT organized the 8th International Workshop on Innovative Statistical Methods
□ Statistics Korea (Commissioner Hwang, Soo Kyoung) organized the 8th International Workshop on Innovative Statistical Methods in the Statistics Center in Daejeon on the 15th and the 16th of May in 2018. □ In an effort to address the degrading conditions and changes of the survey environment, the workshop intended to share the recent developments in research and practices in using the data science, such as big data and administrative register for statistical productions. □ Around 20 domestic and foreign experts participated as guest speakers in the workshop’s 5 sessions which included a discussion session for data scientists and high-level officials in statistics. ○ Danny Pfeffermann, National Statistician of Israel, delivered his key note speech on the ‘problems and challenges in the production of official statistics.’ ○ The workshop also featured a presentation made by Jennifer Shin, a renowned data scientist from IMB Big Data Institute who delineated the issue of ‘using data science for statistical purposes.’ □ Thematically the workshop looked into the following topics: 1) the use of small area estimation techniques for national statistics, 2) practical survey methodologies and 3) the integration of survey and administrative data. □ As a leading institute to guide the global statistical paradigm shift, Statistics Korea will continue to provide such platforms as to promote discussions for statistical innovation toward data science and to develop the global agendas thereof.
- No.16
- Date2018-05-15
Contact
Director for International Cooperation.
E-mail : modsint@korea.kr
