30 January – February 1,2013 Kingston, Jamaica The Statistical Institute of Jamaica

 Coverage of all economic activities is an important quality consideration for national accounts  Exhaustive coverage is often difficult to achieve due to data collection issues or the activity is deliberately concealed  Under coverage can affect both level and trend of the GDP

 Non-Observed Economy- that part of the economy that is difficult to measure. Includes: ◦ informal sector production ◦ production of households for own final use ◦ underground production ◦ illegal production

 There are two approaches to measuring the non-observed 1.Focus is on ensuring that all activities including non-observed activities is a part of the GDP 2.Focus is to study the informal sector, estimating the size, examine the characteristics of the sector

 The emphasis in the Jamaican national accounts is to ensure the exhaustiveness of the GDP  Does not estimate formal and informal activities separately.  Recognition that these units are not captured through the basic data gathering mechanisms  Alternate methods have to be developed to estimate value added of these activities

 Supply based methods – data on the supply of inputs such as labour are used to estimate output  Demand based methods – production is determined by using indicator data on specific uses of a good or service  Commodity flow method – this method involves balancing total supplies and uses of individual products.

Restaurants and Eating Establishments  HES –household consumption of meals away from home  Issues for consideration ◦ Includes restaurants, hotels, baking industry, retail ◦ Purchasers values

 Tourism Expenditure consumption of food outside hotels- purchasers prices  Business consumption in restaurants – SUT  The output of “formal” segment is estimated using supply side data. Intermediate consumption is estimated using surveys  The informal portion is therefore a residual of total output less the formal segment

 Costs for the informal portion is usually estimated from anecdotal information gathered from some players in the industry Extrapolation  GCT returns  Survey of Living Conditions  Tourism expenditure on food outside hotels

 STATIN however recognises the importance of an analytical study of the informal sector  There is a plan for a study using the mixed survey methodology as recommended by the ILO  Resource constraints

Mixed Survey have two phases Phase 1: Identify informal production units or Household Unincorporated Enterprises with at least some market production (HUEMS) The Labour Force Survey to be used Phase 2: To gather information about the working conditions and economic performance of the informal production units

Thank you