What does employment-to-population ratio mean?

Measurement contract

Metric key

metric.employment-ratio

Unit

% of population aged 15+ (modeled ILO estimate) (percent/population-15-plus)

Reference period

Annual; country-level measurement; observation year preserved from source

Source indicator

SL.EMP.TOTL.SP.ZS

Alternative terms

employment, employment ratio, employed, jobs, work, labor, labour

Cross-country comparison

Disabled for this source series

Method

ILO calculates employed people as a percentage of the working-age population and combines reported observations with modeled estimates. Employment includes work for pay or profit.

Interpretation limits

• The denominator is population aged 15+, not the labor force. This is not one minus the unemployment rate.
• This modeled ILO series can differ from national survey releases.
• WDI does not identify every imputed observation in this response. Cross-country ranking and comparison are disabled because ILO warns against comparing imputed observations.
• A higher ratio does not by itself establish better jobs or working conditions.