Labour Statistics
Malerato Mosiane
Labour Statistics Division
Statistics South Africa
Seminar on Developing a programme for the
implementation of the
2008 SNA and supporting statistics
17-19 October 2012
Pretoria, South Africa
1
Outline
•
•
Sources of labour market information
QLFS
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–
–
–
–
–
•
How the LFS evolved
From LFS to QLFS
Activities of Labour Statistics section
Why conduct the QLFS
How QLFS is conducted
Labour Force Framework and definitions
QLFS and QES
2
Sources of labour market information
Household-based surveys
• October Household Survey (OHS) annually 1995-1999
• Labour Force Survey (LFS) – in Mar, Sep each year since 2000
• Income and Expenditure Survey 1995, 2000, 2005/6, 2010/11
• General Household Survey (GHS) – in July each year since 2002
• Community Survey – February 2007
• Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) - Jan 2008
Establishment surveys
• Survey of Employment and Earnings (SEE discontinued)
• Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES)
Population Census (whole country), 1996, 2001, 2011
QLFS
4
How the LFS evolved
LFS 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
5
Re-engineering of LFS
•
Concerns raised about LFS
–
–
–
–
Coverage
Frequency
Timeliness
Analysis
•
LFS re-engineered based on recommendations by
IMF consultants in June 2005
•
Recommendations reviewed by consultants to
Stats SA and senior management
•
Decision taken to re-engineer the LFS
6
Implications of LFS re-engineering
• From bi-annual to quarterly collection
– Continuous quarterly data collection and processing
– Appointment of permanent field and data processing
staff
• Publish results shortly after quarter end
• Detailed analysis
• Etc
Establishment of Labour Statistics Division
7
Activities of Labour Statistics unit
8
Activities of Labour Statistics Unit
• Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS):
– Household survey
 Supplements to the QLFS
– Survey of the employers and the self-employed (SESE) (2009):
• Conducted every 4 years
• Sub-sample of the QLFS
• Provide information on the characteristics of micro- and small
businesses in South Africa that are not registered for VAT.
– Volunteer Activities Survey (VAS) (2010):
• Conducted every 4 years
• Sub-sample of the QLFS
• Collects data on the volunteer activities of individuals aged 15
years and older.
9
Activities of Labour Statistics Unit
 Supplements to the QLFS
– Survey of Activities of Young People (SAYP) (2010)
• Conducted every 5 years
• Sub-sample of QLFS
• Collects data activities of children 7-17 years
• Time use survey (2010):
– Conducted every 5 years
– Aims to provide information the activities that individuals in South
Africa spend their time on.
10
Why QLFS is conducted
11
Why conduct the QLFS
•
The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) is the principal
vehicle for providing current labour market information
•
QLFS is used to provide the quarter-to-quarter changes in
the labour market indicators. These include:
–
Employment (Both in the formal and informal sector)
–
Descriptors of employment - e.g. Industry, occupation, atypical
employment indicators (hours of work , contract and other benefits)
–
Unemployment, duration of unemployment
–
Inactivity.
–
Market vs Non-Market activities.
12
How QLFS is conducted
13
How QLFS is conducted
• Sample of 3080 PSUs
– Approximately 32 000 dwelling units
– The sample for the redesigned Labour Force Survey is based on a
stratified two-stage design with probability proportional to size
(PPS) sampling of primary sampling units (PSUs) in the first stage,
and sampling of dwelling units (DUs) with systematic sampling in
the second stage
– The sample is designed to report at National, Provincial and metro
level. Currently the reports are at national and provincial levels.
– Rotating sample – each dwelling unit in the sample for four
quarters and then rotated out (75% sample overlap quarter-toquarter)
14
Distribution of the Master Sample by province
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
NC
FS
NW
MP
LP
EC
WC
KZN
GP
PSU allocation 180
264
268
288
324
364
384
464
544
A total of 3 080 PSUs in the Master Sample
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Conducting the QLFS
Collect data Q1
Collect data Q2
Collect data Q3
Collect data Q4
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Results
Results
Results
Results
Q4:Core
Q1:Core
Q2:Core
Q3:Core
Report each year on additional aspects of:
Employment
Unemployment & not economically active
Annual report in September of following year using all information
Supplementary reports as required
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Other processes
• Face-to-face interviews – continuously
– 0110 methodology
•
Week 1 - publicity and set up appointments
•
Week 2 and 3 – conduct interviews
•
Week 4 - wrap up and master sample update
• Continuous data processing – scanning
• Weighting
• Data analysis
• Report writing
• Publish results 4-6 weeks after quarter end
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Labour Force conceptual framework
and Definitions
18
Labour force conceptual framework
• Because employment statistics has to be
consistent with production statistics the System
of National Accounts (SNA) is followed to
determine who is economically active (i.e.
employed or unemployed)
• A person is counted as economically active if
and only if he/she contributes or is available to
contribute to the production of goods and
services falling within the SNA production
boundaries
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System of National Accounts (SNA 1993)
Activities
Economic activities
(production of goods & services)
Market production
 Production of goods and
services for sale
 Production of other goods
and services such as
government activities
Non-economic activities
Non-market production
Production of agricultural and other products for
own consumption/use




 House work
 Minor repairs
Growing mealies, fruits, vegetables
Hunting animals and birds, catching fish
Fetching wood, water, dung
Collecting thatching materials
Processing of agricultural and other products for
own consumption/use






Making butter, cheese, beer
Slaughtering livestock,
Making furniture
Weaving baskets and mats
Tailoring
Making clay pots
Production of fixed assets for own use
 Construction of own dwellings, farm buildings
 Clearing land for cultivation
 Major repair work
20
Classification
• Individuals have to be classified into three
mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories
following Labour Force Framework hierarchy:
→Employed
→ Unemployed
→ Inactive / not in the labour force
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Employed (Market production only)
Employed persons are those who during the reference week:
•
Did work for a wage, salary, commission or any payment in
kind (including paid domestic work), even if it was for only
one hour; or
•
Ran any kind of business, big or small, on their own or with
one or more partners, even if it was for only one hour; or
•
Helped without being paid in a household business, even if
it was for only one hour; or
•
Were temporarily absent from their jobs or businesses but
were definitely returning to them.
22
Deriving informal sector in the QLFS
Employed
Employers; Ownaccount; Working unpaid
in hhold business
Employees
Income tax deducted by employer
Registered for VAT or Income tax
No
No
Size of establishment less than 5 employees
Yes
Informal sector
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Unemployed – official definition
Persons above 15 years who during the reference
week were:
•
“without work” – not in paid employment or
self-employment
•
“available for work” – were available for
paid work or self-employment during the
reference week
•
“have taken active steps” in the four weeks
preceding the interview to seek paid
employment or self-employment
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Unemployed – Expanded definition
Job search criterion is relaxed
The unemployed are persons above 15 years who during
the reference week were:
• “without work” – not in paid employment or selfemployment
• “available for work” – were available for paid work or
self-employment during the reference week
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Inactive
Inactivity is also an important indicator. The
inactive are mainly:
• Students
• Housewives
• Retired
• Disabled
• Discouraged work-seekers
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Discouraged work-seekers in the QLFS
Among people who did not look for work: Job search
activities in the last 4 weeks
No
Wanted to work the previous week
Yes
Reasons for not trying to find
work or start business last 4
weeks:
• No jobs available in the area
• Unable to find work requiring
his/her skills
• Lost hope of finding any kind
of work
Availability to start work/business the
previous week
Yes
Discouraged
No
NEA
Other NEA
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Main indicators
Unemployment rate Unemployment x 100
Labour force
Absorption Rate
Employed
Working age (15-64 yrs)
Labour Force
Participation Rate
Labour force
Working age (15-64 yrs)
x 100
x 100
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Quality measures
• Response rate as a quality indicator set to above
80%.
− The most recent release (qrt2:2012) reported 92,6%
at national level
− The lowest response rate was in GP at 82,9%
− This was followed by WC at 86,4%
− The rest of other provinces reported response rates of
above 93,0%
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Quality measures
•
Precision as a quality measure was set to be less than 5%
at national level and less than 10% at provincial level for
employment. This is measured by Coefficient of variation
(CV)
CVs for employment estimates by province
WC
1,6
EC
2,7
NC
3,4
FS
2,0
KZN
1,7
NW
2,7
GP
1,2
MP
2,3
LP
3,8
RSA
0,7
None is above 5% even
at provincial level
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QLFS and QES
Difference between QLFS and QES
Coverage
Frequency
Reference
Period
QLFS
QES
 Private households including worker’s
hostel
 Target population is civilian noninstitutionalised aged 15 and older.
 Formal, informal, Agriculture and
employment in Private hh
 Quarterly sample survey of 30 000
dwellings (sampling unit is dwelling
and unit of observation is the
household)
 A week prior to the interviews
 Collection is in the middle two weeks
of each month of the quarter
 VAT registered
business (pay roll)
 Employees only.
 Formal nonagricultural sector
 Quarterly sample
survey of 20 000
non-agric formal
enterprises
 Pay roll on the last
day of the quarter
Difference between QLFS and QES
Definitions
SIC
QLFS
QES
Formal Sector Non-agric
Employers and own account worker whose
businesses are registered for tax (income tax
or VAT)
Employees whose employers deduct
income tax from their salaries
Employees whose employer does not
deduct income tax but work for
establishment with more than 5 employees
 All industries
Formal Sector-non
agric
VAT registration
 Agriculture and
Private households
excluded
Difference between QLFS and QES
QLFS
Employment  Estimates of employed persons
concept
Employment  Includes employers, own-account
definition
workers, unpaid family workers,
difference
persons employed in agriculture,
private hh and workers absent
without pay
QES
 Estimates of jobs
which are paid i.e
those on a payroll of
a firm
 Formal nonagricultural
employment in
businesses
registered for VAT.
Comparison between the QES and QLFS
•
Trend in formal sector employment between the QES and QLFS are similar, but levels
of employment higher in QLFS.
Thank you
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The QLFS sample
• Sampling Frame
• Census 2001 enumeration areas (EAs - 80 787)
• On average an EA consists of 150-200
dwellings
• However, over a period some EAs grow and
others shrink so listing maintenance is used to
update the frame
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The sample
• Sampling Frame
• In preparation of the sampling frame small EAs
(25-99 Dus) are combined with adjacent EA of
the same type to form Primary Sampling Unit
(PSUs) and very big EAs are split into a
number of PSUs.
• This process generated 52 939 PSUs in the
entire country.
• From the 52 000 PSUs, a sample of 3080
PSUs was selected for the QLFS
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The sample
• Sampling Frame
• This sample size was determined based on
the required level of precision of employment
ratio at national and provincial level
• Measures of precision are determined by the
magnitude of the Coefficient of variation (CV)
• This was set to be at least less than 5% at
the national level and less than 10% at the
provincial level
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The sample
• After selecting the 3080 PSU. The listing
process follows
• Each and every dwelling within the boundaries of
each PSU is listed and numbered
• The list is used to select a systematic sample of
between 10 and 12 dwellings to be interviewed
• Each DU is visited 4 times and then rotated out
to avoid respondent fatigue
• There is a 75% sample overlap quarter-toquarter to minimize sampling variability
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Data Weighting
After the data collection and editing phases of the survey are
completed;
• Sampling weights are constructed so that the responses could
be properly expanded to represent the entire population.
•This is a result of calculations involving the following factors
• Original selection probabilities
• Base weight adjustment which include non-response
adjustment and PSU adjustment
• Benchmarking to a known population counts produced by the
Statistics SA demography division
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