Engendering economic activity in population censuses * * * Robert McCaa, Antonio Lopez, Phuong Nguyen University of Minnesota Population Center * * * representing the IPUMS-International * * * * * * census microdata access project * * * * currently available, free: 80 censuses, 26 countries * * * 75 countries have entrusted microdata to project * *

IPUMS: most complete archive of census documentation –Census forms: 765 on conference DVDthanks to UNSD, etc. –Training manuals: available in 2009 –To integrate microdata, study documentation carefully best practices for capturing female economic activity best practices for capturing female economic activity –Learned from source documentation –Necessary for integrating microdata –And writing integrated metadata (Regional reports, on Latin America and Africa given in May and Dec., provoked much discussion and debate) (Regional reports, on Latin America and Africa given in May and Dec., provoked much discussion and debate) Engendering economic activity a global perspective acquired from integrating census microdata

~International standards are clear: homemakers may be economically active – P&R 1958 (M27), 1970 (M44), 1998 (Rev 1, M67), 2007 (Rev 2) – UNSD Soc. & Econ. Char. Handbook (2007), ILO BLS Biased questionaire: Requests main activity; if housewife, end module. Biased questionaire: Requests main activity; if housewife, end module. Unbiased: Requests any economic activity; if housewife, continue with a short list of probes: Unbiased: Requests any economic activity; if housewife, continue with a short list of probes: –Work for pay or profit, family farm/business, crafts for sale, –For list: see UNSD Handbook (Nov. 2007), p. 45. UN-Statistics Division, Principles and Recommendations, : conceptual foundation for unbiased measurement of econ. act.

–before the 2000 round, biased wording meant that homemakers/housewives who worked part-time were excluded from the economically active population –Finally, in the 2000 round, in almost all regions of the world, bias was greatly eliminatedthanks to a concerted effort by UNSD, UNFPA, etc. Examples: Mexico, South Africa, Macedonia, Yemen –For 2010 round, almost all (?) countries may pose the economic activity question properly (e.g., Colombia 2005, Cambodia 2008), but, unless we act quickly, old ways will continue in much of Africa (e.g., Nigeria 2006, Burkina Faso 2006) and sub-regions of Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam) UN-Statistics Division, Principles and Recommendations, , laid the foundation; yet our analysis of 765 census forms shows

Homemakers: must also answer 16b (did you work at all for pay or profit, work for family farm, business, receive pay in kind) Homemakers: must also answer 16b (did you work at all for pay or profit, work for family farm, business, receive pay in kind) If yes, continue with economic moduleIf yes, continue with economic module Gambia 2003 captures both primary and secondary activity

Question 1: Last week (Name): Did you work? 27.5% Had work? 0.4 Look for work? 0.3 Are you a student? housewife? housewife? retired? retired? permanently incapacitated? permanently incapacitated? Did you not work? Mexico 2000 census--two questions on Economic Activity: 1: Last week, did (NAME)...? 2: Besides (...), did (NAME)...? Question 1: female % Last week (Name): Did you work? 27.5% Had work? 0.4 Looked? 0.3 Q. 1&2: combined student/wrkd 0.5 student/wrkd 0.5 housewife/wr 3.7 housewife/wr 3.7 retired/wrkd 0.0 retired/wrkd 0.0 other/wrkd? 0.4 other/wrkd? 0.4 no reply/wrkd? 0.0 no reply/wrkd? 0.0 Question 2: Did you help in a family business? Sell some product? Make some product to sell? Help on a farm or with livestock? Or in exchange for pay did you do some other activity?

Yemen 2004 one question, 2 categories: 1: Working 2: Working housewife

South Africa 2001 captures all with short list: any work for pay (in cash or kind), profit or family gain for one hour or more? (avoids homemaker deadend )

17: if Homemaker, skip: end interview.17: if Homemaker, skip: end interview. Solution:Solution: –17b: list secondary activities (recall Mexico 2000 example) –If response is no on 17a and 17b, then end interview; otherwise record answers for 17b, 18 and 19 The problem: Nigeria 2006 skips secondary activity

Gender bias in the wording of Census Questions on Economic Activity (2000phcr) NoneSomeSubstantial All, if homemaker No census/ques/form

Africa, of 4 miss most or all economic activity of homemakers: 35 censuses 3 capture some (all??) secondary economic activity: Cote d Ivoire 1998, Ghana 2000, Mali skip all female economic activity, if homemaker: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Cape Verde, Gabon, Guinea (Conakry), Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe 9 miss most homemaker economic activity: Benin, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Morocco, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tunisia 6 best practices: Gambia 2003, Mauritius 2000, Mozambique 1997, Namibia 2001, South Africa 2001, Sudan 2008

Asia-Oceania, half omit some or all economic activity of homemakers: 43 censuses 8 capture some (all??) secondary economic activity: China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey 14 skip all female economic activity, if homemaker: Bahrain, Bhutan, Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Laos, Mongolia, Oman, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Timor Leste, Vietnam 1 misses much female economic activity for lack of probes: Armenia 21 best practices : Australia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Fiji, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Korea-RO, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, Palestine, PNG, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkmenistan, Yemen

Europe, half omit some or all economic activity of homemakers: 31 censuses 5 capture some (all??) secondary economic activity: Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Spain, United Kingdom 7 skip all female economic activity, if homemaker: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia 7 skip all female economic activity, if homemaker: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia 4 miss much female economic activity for lack of probes: Albania, Belarus, Ireland, Moldova 15 best practices : Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Italy, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine

Americas, only 6 less than best; little gender bias in economic activity question(s): 29 censuses 0 capture some (all??) secondary economic activity: 4 skip all female economic activity, if homemaker: Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago 4 skip all female economic activity, if homemaker: Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago 2 miss much female economic activity for lack of probes: Panama, Peru 23 best practices : Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Suriname, USA, Uruguay, Venezuela

UNSD, Handbook on Social and Economic Charactertistics (Nov. 2007, p. 45): list of economic and non-economic activities Continued on next slide

Handbook, 2007, p. 45: economic activities (continued) Continued from previous slide

–3 Worst practice (if main activity = homemaker, skip): Botswana 2001, Malawi 1998, Zambia –13 Best practice (record activity, even for homemakers): Namibia 2001, South Africa 2001, Sri Lanka 2001 (weeks worked per year for 6 types of activity, including homemaking), Argentina 2001, Bahamas 2000, Belize 2000, Jamaica 2001, Mexico 2000, Australia 2006, Japan 2000, Canada 2006, France 1999, and Italy 2001 –There is no guidance as to the character of these examples instead only layout (landscape/portrait) and # of questions asked. A critique of examples from Handbook (pp ).

Suggested best practice on economic activity proposed for Africa Addendum to UNSD P&R 2010, Option 1: Question X (mark one): Last 7 days, did (Name) do any work for PAY (in cash or in kind), PROFIT or FAMILY Gain, for one hour or more?: 1. Yes, formal (non-farm) 2. Yes, informal (non-farm) 3. Yes, farming/ranching 4. Yes, has work, but was temporarily absent 5. No, did not work. If No, skip to next module.

Suggested best practice on economic activity Africa Addendum to UNSD P&R Option 2: Branch only after 2 nd (probing) question X: Last [period], did (NAME)...? X+1: Besides (...), did (NAME)...? Suggested best practice on economic activity proposed for Africa Addendum to UNSD P&R Option 2: Branch only after 2 nd (probing) question X: Last [period], did (NAME)...? X+1: Besides (...), did (NAME)...? Question X (check one): Last week, did (Name): 1. Work? >>Q Z. 2. Have work? >>Q Z. 3. Look for work? >>Q Z. 4. Go to school? 5. Perform household tasks? 6. Do other things? Question X+1 (check one), Besides ( … ), did (Name): 1. Help in a family business? 2. Sell some product? 3. Make some product to sell? 4. Help on a farm or with livestock? 5. Do some other activity in exchange for pay? 6. None of above >>skip to next module

Suggested best practice on economic activity Africa Addendum to UNSD P&R 2010: Option 3. Add no question only a few additional words and do not skip! Suggested best practice on economic activity proposed for Africa Addendum to UNSD P&R 2010: Option 3. Add no question only a few additional words and do not skip! Question X (check one): 1. Worked for pay/profit/family gain. 2. Had work, but didn t work. 3. Looked for work? 4. Went to school; didn t work at all. 5. Performed household tasks; didn t work at all. 6. None of the above.

Partners: IPUMS-International, December 10, 2007 dark green = disseminating (26 countries, 80 censuses, 200mpr) green = harmonizing (41 countries, 112 censuses, 230mpr) lightest green = negotiating Mollweide projection

IPUMS Dynamic Metadata System: 2 clicks to view images of original source documentationcensus forms and training manualsin the official language (or English translation)

For images of original source documents, 2 clicks from IPUMS home page: click 1: Census Questionnaires

For images of original source documents, 2 clicks from IPUMS home page: click 1: Census Questionnaires click 2: country, census year, document

IPUMS Dynamic Metadata System: 5 clicks to compare any census question, in English, for any combination of years and countries in the database

Click 1, access: ipums.org/international

Click 2: variables

Click 3: Select countries and census years; then, submit sample selections

Click 4: chose a variable (e.g., employment status i.e., economic activity)

Before making the fifth click, scroll down to see comparability discussion

Click 5 enumeration text to compare text of enumeration form and instructions for Employment Status

Click 5: enumeration text

For variable availability, click variable name (X = variable available for this census)

For sample counts, click case count view (careful: these are unweighted counts)

For simple variables, click general codes

Thank you additional information at: umn.edu/~rmccaa/IPUMSI * * * * * * Contact: