Design and Implementation of Labour Force Surveys Yandiswa Mpetsheni South Africa

Contents Background LFS Processes Informal sector surveys The redesign of the LFS Core objective of the new LFS What re-engineering involves Major implications of re-engineering Progress to date Important milestones Challenges

Background Sources of household-based labour market information: The October Household Survey (OHS) annually 1995-1999 The Labour Force Survey (LFS) – in Mar, Sep each year since 2000 The General Household Survey (GHS) – in July each year since 2002 The Community Survey – February 2007 The Population Census, 1996, 2001

The LFS is the principal vehicle for collecting current labour market information

The LFS process: Questionnaire Questionnaire developed in 1999 Supplements added in March & September each year Expanded Public Works Programmes (EPWP) since Sep’05 Agriculture since Mar’01 Volunteer work since Sep’01 Supplements added in September each year Migrant workers since Sep’02 (except Sep’06) Supplements added intermittently Survey of Employers and the Self-employed (SESE) - Mar’01, Sep’05 Child Labour - some questions included in LFS Mar’05 Deaths – once off in Mar’02 (subsequently moved to GHS). Child Labour stand-alone survey in 1999

SURVEY OF EMPLOYERS AND SELF-EMPLOYED (SESE)

Purpose To determine the contribution of the informal sector to the SA economy (through interviewing the owners of small businesses)

Preferred supplier of quality statistics SESE DESIGN Not a stand alone household-based survey March 2001, done in conjunction with LFS Sep 2005 – screening during LFS data collection SESE collection 4 weeks later Sub-set of LFS sample Only businesses that are not registered for VAT Preferred supplier of quality statistics

Run any business (Q2.1 (a) (LFS 2, 3 & 4) Challenges SESE 2001 Run any business (Q2.1 (a) (LFS 2, 3 & 4) Extra money for SESE qn “Fabrication / manufacturing” of businesses

Challenges SESE 2005 The screening process implement to reduce the incidence of fabrication But Collection done 4 weeks after LFS reference period recall bias

Addressing challenges in the informal sector A module will be attached to LFS in Sep 2009 The informal sector module is work in progress. According to the latest LFS proportion of people engaged in the IS was 16%, formal sector – 66. 4%, domestic work 8% and Agriculture – 8.8%

The LFS process: Sampling and fieldwork Sampling: Master sample introduced in 1999 and updated on an annual basis. Fieldwork: undertaken by contract staff in March and September

The LFS process: Data Processing Questionnaires centrally processed after the end of data collection Questionnaires scanned since 2000 Manual capture of listings No imputation Data sets ready for analysis six months after the end of data collection

The LFS process: Analysis & Dissemination Not all the information collected is analysed No in-depth analysis of results undertaken at this stage Two unemployment rates 1997- 2005 Dissemination Press Conference to release results Hard copy, web, datasets

The re-design of the LFS Concerns raised about LFS: Frequency Timeliness Coverage analysis IMF evaluation and recommendations June 2005 Decision to re-engineer LFS Aug 2005

Core objectives of new LFS To make reliable core labour force indicators available quarterly, four weeks after reference period; and Supplementary data available annually, six months after the year end

LFS Sep’05 New Core LFS Household questionnaire (128) Section 1: Household questions (8) Section 2-4: Individual questions (53) Demographics (28) Work activities (8) Unemployment & inactivity (17) Employment (39) EPWP (8) Agriculture (5) Migrants (17) Hhold business (6) 1.Demographics (4) Work activities (8) Unemployment & inactivity (18) Employment (27) Non-core moved to annual collection in LFS or GHS Supplements Frequency ?

What re-engineering involves Redesigning the master sample Clarifying labour market concepts Improving questionnaire including translations Improving field operations Designing editing and imputation system Enhancing tabulation and analysis Improving dissemination

Concepts that have been reviewed Employment: based only on market activities Availability: used to be based in the future now corresponds with reference week for employment (past week) Formal and informal sector: respondents used to classify themselves now a more objective criteria is used

Benefits of the quarterly LFS Appointment of a permanent fieldwork force Continuous data collection Continuous update of the master sample Better control of field work processes (Real time Management system)

Progress to date Development work started in October 2005 until December 2007 Consultants appointed ILO consulted on concepts and definitions QLFS launched in January 2008

Important milestones Consultation with other African countries: Dec 2006 Old and new LFS parallel run: 9 provinces Jan – Mar and Jul – Sep 2008 Establish link factors between old and new LFS (March series: June 2008 Publish results: 28 Aug 2008 Establish link factors between the old and new LFS (September series)

Challenges Gender mainstreaming not taken care of More needs to be done in understanding and measuring the informal sector Deciding on supplements to be attached to QLFS Perceived break of series even with link factors Management of full time permanent fieldworkers.

Enkosi Realeboha Siyathokoza Nakhensa Ndolivhuwa Dankie Thank you Zikomo Obrigada Ondapandula Merci Asante sana