International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics, 1995

Where do women work? Does knowing the answer matter? If you provide gender-specific goods anf services to an industrial sector in a country, it certainly does matter. It helps to know that Jordan in 1991 had among the lowest percentage of women employed in manufacturing industries (9.1%) while Macao in 1992 had the highest (67.8%).

If you plan to make an invesment in a country's industrial sector, it can be helpful to know how much value each employee adds and how much the employee costs. In food products, for example, value added per employee in 1991 in the United States America was $91,600 while in Bangladesh in 1990 it was $2,400. Comparable wages were $22,400 and $600. The ratios, however, were 4.09 and 4.00 respectively,showing little U.S. advantage.

These figures and countless others come from UNIDO's new publication, the International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics. This unique and comprehensive source of industrial information is the only international publication providing economists, planners, policy makers and business people with world-wide statistics on current performance and trend in the manufacturing sector.

Covering more than 120 countries and areas and providing various up-to-date statistical indicators, the 636-page volume is designed to facilitate detailed international comparisons relating to the manufacturing sector. One can use the data to analyse patterns of growth, structural change and industrial performance in individual industries.

The book consists of two parts :

Part I refers to the manufacturing sector as a whole and its branches. Statistical indicators are presented in terms of a common currency, percentage distributions,cross-country averages, ratios and real growth rates that facilitate international comparison among selected country groups and/or countries. Data for manufacturing branches are arranged according to revision 2 of the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) at the three_digit code (or major-group) level.

Part II consists of a series of country/area-specific tables. These show detailed data on selected basic statistics at the 3-and 4-digit code levels of ISIC for 1985 and the latest three years (upto 1992) for which data were reported by national statistical sources, as well as selected indicators that were derived from the basic statistics. The basic statistics presented are: number of establishments, employment, wages and salaries, output, value added, gross fixed capital formation and production indexes.All value data are presented in current national currencies.

This new annual publication succeeds UNIDO's Handbook of Industrial Statistics and also replaces the United Nations' Industrial Statistics Yearbook, volume I (General Industrial Statistics).The information comes from the UNIDO General Industrial Statistics Database,which contains data compiled directly, or through the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), from national statistical sources, and from UNIDO estimates. These data were, whenever necessary, adjusted to the requirements of international comparability and the standards for this work as promulgated by the United Nations.

The International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics is an essential reference source for economists, analysts and government officials needing an assessment of industrial trends. It is also invaluable for business people seeking investment opportunities, industrial joint ventures and financial agreements in both industrialized and developing countries.

Order:

Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.,
8 Landsdown Place,
Cheltenham, Glos.
GL50 2HU,United Kingdom.
Fax: (+44) 1 242 262 111.
Price £ 75

— UNIDO Links,May 1995