Production of Statistics on Informal Sector Employment and Informal Employment in Namibia By Panduleni C Kali

Index Introduction –Introduction and Purpose –Country experience Type of Survey Sample Design –Target Population –Sample Design –Sample Size –Methods of Improving Coverage –2008 Namibia Labour Force Survey Conclusion

Introduction The purpose of this paper is to share Namibia’s experience in conducting the first stand alone informal sector survey with specific reference on our attempts to improve the quality of informal sector statistics.

Criteria's used identify informal sector enterprises The informal sector was restricted to the Private sector. Excluded were all Government and Parastatals concerns and registered cooperatives Agriculture activities are included provided the activity is a business enterprise with the objective of raising income and solely for home consumption.

Criteria’s used to identify informal sector enterprises The private enterprise has to have 5 or less paid employees Excluded are professional type enterprises (e.g. doctor’s/lawyer’s practices), enterprises using high technology or having other formal characteristics Domestic servants of private households were excluded.

Type of survey The 2001 Namibia Informal Sector Survey focused on enterprises and did not collect data on the household per se. For all practical reasons the survey can be referred to as an informal sector enterprise survey identified through a household sample and also because of the fact that the establishment was used as a unit of analysis.

Type of survey The mobile nature of the majority of the informal sector in the country made the use of the enterprise approach for this survey impractical, the household approach to identify the economic units and their operators who were interviewed about their activities in detail was therefore used for the survey.

Sample design The design for the survey was a stratified two-stage sample design where the first stage units are geographical areas, the Primary Sampling Units (PSU’s), which are selected with probability proportional to size.

Sample design The second stage units are the household selected with systematic equal probability sampling from a current list of household within the PSU, prepared just before the interview. In selected households all operators of informal enterprises were interviewed about informal sector enterprises which they operate.

Methods for improving the coverage of the target population At the listing stage, each household was classified into one of the following groups based on the answers to questions in the listing form. 1. Households with at least one informal sector operator 2. All other households

Methods for improving the coverage of the target The purpose of this grouping is to identify households with at least one informal sector before the second stage sampling was done thus increasing the chances of including households with the target population into the sample. A sample was selected only from the group 1 households.

2008 Namibia Labour Force Survey The Labour force survey conducted in 2004 did not incorporate information pertaining to the informal sector. The need to measure employment in the informal sector and informal employment prompted the Ministry to add a module to capture and measure the informal employment in both the formal and informal sectors.

Definitions used in the Labour Force Survey Informal Economy: All economic activities by workers or economic units that are – in law or in practice – not covered or insufficiently covered by formal arrangements.

Definitions used in the Labour Force Survey Informal Employment: Employees are considered to have informal jobs if their employment relationship is, in law or practice, not subject to labour legislation, income taxation, social protection or entitlement to certain employment benefits.

Definitions used in the Labour Force Survey Contributing family workers: Contributing family workers, irrespective of whether they work in formal or informal sector enterprise. The informal nature of their jobs is due to the fact that contributing family workers do not have explicit, written contracts of employment, their is not subject to labour legislation, social security regulations, collective agreements, etc.

Questions in the Informal Sector module For self-employed persons Is your business/enterprise registered as a company? 1. Yes 2. No 3. In the process of registration 4. Don’t know

Questions in the Informal Sector module (cont..) In which of the following is your company registered? 1. Social Security Commission 2. Ministry of Trade and Industry 3. Ministry of Finance 4. Other, specify

Questions in the Informal Sector module (cont..) Does your business keep accounts? 1. Yes 2. No 3. Don’t know

Questions in the informal sector module (cont..) What type of accounts are kept for the business? 1. Detailed formal accounts 2. Simplified accounting format 3. Informal records for personal use 4. Other, specify

For employees only Does your employer pay social contribution for you e.g. Pension? Do you benefit from paid annual leave or compensation from unused leave? Would you benefit from paid sick leave in case of illness?

For employees only (cont..) Does your employer deduct income tax from your salary/wage? Have you been employed on the basis of A written contract 2. A verbal agreement

For employees only (cont..) Is the contract or agreement of a....? 1. Limited duration 2. Permanent nature 3. Unspecified duration

For employees only (cont...) What is the duration of your contract/agreement 1. Daily 2. Less than one month 3. 1 to 2 months 4. 3 to 6 months 5. 7 to 12 months 6. More than 12 months

For employees only (cont…) How long have you been employed in this job? 1. Less than a year 2. 1 to 2 years 3. 3 to 5 years 4. 6 to 10 years or more years

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