The collection and supply of labor-related information and comprehensive analysis of labor economics are essential to the development of constructive labor policy, and has gained importance as time passes.
      By conducting more than 20 statistical surveys per year, including the Monthly Labour Survey and the Basic Survey of Wage Structure, the Ministry of Labour quickly and accurately identifies the current situation and trends in labor, as well as problems in such fields as wages, working hours, employment, personnel and labor management, while providing data to the general public. Also, through managers' conferences held separately for each industry, as well as the industrial labor monitoring system and research meetings on individual themes such as personnel and labor management, we collect worker information directly from industries and business enterprises, and analyze the data in detail.
      In the White Paper on Labour published each year, we analyze the year's trends in labor economies and make a comprehensive analysis of various important issues from a mid and long-term point of view. The 1998 White Paper on Labour dealt with the matter of "mid and long-term changes in working styles and life styles" and the 1997 version treated the theme of "employment and wages in structural transformation and coping with an ageing labor force."
      To respond to the varying needs for labor information, the Labour Information Center was set up within the Japan Institute of Labour to gather and supply comprehensive labor-related information.