Frequently Asked Questions
Reliability varies: For periods with direct ILO data, the values are relatively reliable. However, for many countries, only a few measurement points are available, interspersed with model-based estimates. Future projections reflect longer-term trends but cannot account for short-term economic fluctuations.
We plan to update the data set annually.
The threshold of $2.15 per day (the new “extreme poverty line”), which is central to our index, was introduced by the World Bank in 2022 to better reflect global poverty. Those living below this threshold have little scope for food, healthcare, and education. Due to massive population growth, particularly in low-income African countries, which will grow by hundreds of millions of people in the coming years, the creation of jobs that help people escape extreme poverty is a crucial first step. The next step can then be to target higher incomes and better working conditions. With the Global Jobs Index, we want to shine a spotlight on this challenge. In high-income countries such as Germany, extreme poverty is almost unheard of thanks to better-paid jobs and social security systems. Accordingly, the data for rich countries would only document unemployment figures.
Yes, uses with other data are very welcome. Countries can easily be combined with other data sets using the identifiers "country code" or "country name" and the year. If you want to use the data, please cite it as: "Heidland, T. and Wahnbaeck, T. (2025). Global Jobs Index, Dataset Release 1.0" The data can be used under CC-BY 4.0. We are happy if you drop us an email about your use of the data.
The index has several methodological and conceptual limitations. For many countries, only a few actual measurement points (ground truth) are available, resulting in a strong reliance on model estimates. The deliberately simple model with only a few variables (GDP and population growth) captures long-term trends, but cannot reliably represent or predict economic fluctuations or short-term crises; it is not an economic forecast.
The index includes both formal and informal jobs. Of course, this does not mean that we prefer informal employment to formal employment. Formal jobs are generally more secure, and the social insurance that typically comes with them offers major benefits for workers. However, in many developing and emerging economies, firms choose to remain informal because of bureaucracy or tax burdens. Not counting these jobs would give a highly distorted picture of the labor market situation.