This paper provides part of the research feeding into the fourth Integrated Social Policy Report, published in December 2011 by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). The availability of labour market data and the principal challenges facing labour markets in the ESCWA member countries are the main focus of the paper. The labour force in the ESCWA member countries is changing rapidly, due to the combined pressures of an increasing number of individuals of working age, higher levels of female labour participation and changing patterns of migration.