This chapter provides methodological descriptions of 17 labour force surveys or other surveys of households, from which are obtained statistics of the economically active population, employment, unemployment and hours of work published in the ILO Bulletin of Labour Statistics and Yearbook of Labour Statistics. They are additions to the descriptions on this subject presented in Statistical Sources and Methods: Vol. 3: Economically active population, employment, unemployment and hours of work (household surveys) ILO, Geneva 1990.

The methodological descriptions presented in this volume have been prepared on the basis of replies from national statistical offices to a specifically designed questionnaire as well as from national publications available to the ILO.

The descriptions are structured and presented using 9 standard headings in order to facilitate comparisons of the different characteristics. The contents under each heading are described below.

1.Title of the survey

Under this heading the title of the survey is given in the original language or in translation. The title usually refers to a sample survey of the economically active population and occasionally to other types of household survey.

2.Organization responsible for the survey

This heading refers to the organisation responsible for conducting the survey or to the organisation responsible for processing and publishing the survey results. When these tasks were divided between two organisations, the names of both are generally given.

3.Coverage of the survey

This heading indicates whether the survey covers the whole country. If this is not so, it specifies which geographical areas or administrative divisions are covered and which are not. Likewise it provides information on which types of population are covered by the survey and which specific groups, if any, are excluded (e.g. institutional households, mobile populations, barge people).

4.Periodicity of the survey

This heading specifies the rate of recurrence of the survey, the date of the first round and, where appropriate, the timing of the rounds.

5.Reference period

This heading gives the time period (e.g. a specific week, a full month) for which data are collected.

6.Topics covered

This refers to the main labour topics for which data are collected in the survey (i.e. employment, underemployment, unemployment, hours of work, status in employment, duration of unemployment, ways of seeking a job, discouraged workers, persons not in the labour force).

7.Concepts and definitions

Under this heading definitions are given of the economically active population, employment, unemployment and (where included in the survey) hours of work, as understood in the survey.

8.Sample design

This heading specifies the sample size, which is the number of ultimate sampling units considered in the sample design (i.e. households, housing units or individuals), and the major features of the sample design: source and age of the sampling frame, survey specification, selection scheme, stratification, replacement of sampling units.

9.Documentation

The titles and sources of the major national publications in which the survey results are published are given under this heading. Whenever possible reference to a national publication providing methodological details is included.