Editorial & Corrections Policy

How Pages Are Produced

PlainEmploy's country, comparison, and ranking pages are generated from three documented datasets: the ILO's Employment Protection Legislation database (EPLex), the World Bank's Business Ready (B-READY) labor-regulation indicators, and the OECD Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) index. We download each institution's published release, normalize the countries to a common code system, load the figures into a structured database, and render every page from that database. The scores you see — EPLex composites (0–1), B-READY labor scores (0–100), and OECD EPL stringency (0–6) — are the institutions' published numbers, not hand-typed and not estimated by us.

This is a data-publishing model: the same template renders pages for all 145 covered countries plus their pairwise comparisons, so every country is covered consistently. We are transparent that these data pages are produced programmatically from the source datasets rather than written individually. The editorial work goes into the pipeline (how data is sourced, matched across three scales, and computed), the methodology, and the written guides — not into hand-authoring thousands of near-identical country and comparison pages, which would add no accuracy and invite inconsistency.

Sourcing Standards

• Primary sources only. Every score comes from one of three official institutions — the ILO, the World Bank, or the OECD. We do not blend the three scales into a single number, because each measures a different slice of employment regulation; our methodology explains why.
• Attribution in context. Each data page names its dataset and vintage near the figures, and links to the methodology that explains what each index measures and how percentiles and comparisons are derived.
• Derived values are labeled. Numbers we compute ourselves — national percentile context, side-by-side comparisons, and composite rankings within a single source — are presented as our analysis of the source data, distinct from each institution's published figures.
• No invented data. Where a country is absent from a source, or a metric is unavailable, the page says so rather than filling the gap with an estimate or a cross-scale conversion.

Update Cadence

Each source updates on its own cycle. The ILO EPLex 2020 edition is the latest termination-rules release; World Bank B-READY publishes annually in the fall (the 2025 edition is current); the OECD EPL index covers data through 2019 with a multi-decade historical series from 1990. We refresh our database when an institution publishes a new edition, preserving prior vintages where a time series exists so trends remain comparable. Between releases the figures are stable because the sources themselves do not change. The reference year for each metric is shown on every data page.

Corrections Process

If a figure on PlainEmploy looks wrong, please tell us. Because our pages are generated from the source datasets, a genuine error almost always traces back to either the upstream data or our processing of it — so this is how we handle a report:

1. Report. Email us at corrections@plainemploy.com or use the contact page with the page URL and the number that looks off.
2. Verify. We compare the figure against the ILO, World Bank, or OECD published release for that country and edition.
3. Fix at the source. If the value is wrong on our side, we correct it in the database and pipeline that generate the page — not just on the single page — so every affected country and comparison is fixed at once. If the figure faithfully reflects the source, we explain that and, where useful, add context.
4. Note it. Material corrections that change a published figure are reflected the next time the page rebuilds, with the data reference year shown so you can see which edition a page is based on.

We aim to acknowledge data-error reports within a few business days.

Editorial Independence

PlainEmploy is an independent publisher and is not affiliated with the ILO, the World Bank, the OECD, or any government agency. Our guides and analysis are not influenced by advertisers; advertising, where present, is clearly distinguishable from editorial content and never determines which countries or rankings we show. Our rankings are computed mechanically from the published indices, so no country, employer, or agency can pay to move up — or down — a list.

Appropriate Use

PlainEmploy is for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute legal, HR, or employment advice. The indices measure the law as written and are designed for cross-country comparison; they do not capture enforcement practice, recent amendments, collective agreements, or the facts of any individual case. For a decision about hiring, dismissal, or your own employment, consult a qualified employment lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction. See our disclaimer for details.