"In 1998 ONS and Statistics Finland won the contract - funded by the European Commission - to run a four-year (1998 to 2002) labour force survey development programme in China. Labour market statistics have changed in China in recent years, as the government's requirements have evolved. Information on employment has been obtained from the establishment reporting system, which was designed to monitor the planned economy. However, moves towards a modernised market economy require more varied and better quality data sources to describe what is happening in the labour market. This article describes this development programme and some key features of the Chinese situation which have required particular responses in terms of data collection or analysis. The article also presents some results from a pilot household-based labour force survey conducted by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics in 2001. Around 6,000 households were selected in six areas of China."

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