31 Labour Force Survey, Methodology LFS, Methodology © NISR, 2024 Annex 2: Main concepts and definitions The main concepts and definitions used in the survey are in line with the international standards on statistics of work, employment, and labour underutilization adopted by the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (Geneva, 2013). They are briefly described below. Work The starting point of the international standards on statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization is the concept of work defined as: – “Any activity performed by persons of any sex and age to produce goods or to provide services for use by others or for own use” in line with the General production boundary defined in the System of National Accounts 2008. – Work is defined “irrespective of its formal or informal character or the legality of the activity.” – It excludes “activities not involving production of goods or services (begging, stealing), self-care (personal grooming, hygiene) and activities that cannot be performed by another person on one’s own behalf (sleeping, learning, own recreation).” The international standards recognize different forms of work: Own-use production work (production of goods and services for own final use); employment (work performed for others in exchange for pay or profit); unpaid trainee work (work performed for others without pay to acquire workplace experience or skills); volunteer work (non-compulsory work performed for others without pay); and other forms of work (not defined at this time by the international standards). The RLFS focuses on the measurement of employment and labour underutilization and separately on own-use production work. Working age population The working age population in Rwanda is defined as all persons 16 years old and over. For international reporting, the international standards recommend the lowest age bracket starting with 15 years. To enable comparison with the past and to conform to the international standards, the LFS questionnaire collected data on labour force and labour underutilization characteristics of the population 14 years and over. Accordingly, the main indicators presented in this report are based on the 16 years old limit. Employment Employment is a particular form of work. Persons in employment are defined as all those above a specified age who, during a short reference period, were engaged in any activity to produce goods or provide services for pay or profit. It excludes persons engaged wholly in activities to produce goods or services for own final use such as producing agricultural, fishing and gathering products for own-consumption or cleaning, decorating, gardening and maintaining one’s own dwelling or premises, durables and other goods. Persons in employment comprise: (a) employed persons “at work,” i.e., who worked in a job for at least one hour; and (b) employed persons “not at work” due to temporary absence from a job, or to working-time arrangements (such as shift work, flexi-time and compensatory leave for overtime). This definition of employment differs from the definition used in past surveys and censuses that was based on the previous international standards. The main difference concerns the statistical treatment of subsistence foodstuff producers. According to these earlier standards, “persons engaged in the production of goods and services for own and household consumption should be considered as in self-employment if such production comprises an important contribution to the total consumption of the households.” According to the new
32 Labour Force Survey, Methodology LFS, Methodology © NISR, 2024 standards, however, only those are included in employment if the production was “intended mainly for sale or barter, even if part of the output is consumed by the household or family.“ Labour underutilization Labour underutilization refers to mismatches between labour supply and demand. It reflects the unmet need for employment among the population. Measures of labour underutilization include, but may not be restricted to unemployment; time-related underemployment; and potential labour force. Unemployment Persons in unemployment are defined as all those above a specified age who (a) were not in employment; (b) carried out activities to seek employment during a specified recent period; and (c) were currently available to take up employment given a job opportunity. The definition of unemployment provides an exception in the case of future starters. They are considered as unemployed even if they did not carry out activities to seek employment during the specified recent period, if satisfy the availability condition. Although this definition of unemployment is essentially the same as the definition used in past surveys and censuses, the resulting statistics differ considerably from each other. This is due to the impact of the change in the definition of employment. Persons who are not classified as employed under the new definition are now subject to classification as unemployed if they satisfy the other two criteria of unemployment. Time-related underemployment Persons in time-related underemployment are defined as all persons in employment who, during a specified reference period, (a) wanted to work additional hours, (b) whose working time in all jobs was less than a specified hours threshold, and (c) who were available to work additional hours given an opportunity for more work. The hour-threshold was set at 35 hours of work during the reference week at all jobs. It corresponds to the median value of the distribution of hours actually worked at all jobs during the reference week. Potential labour force Potential labour force is defined as all persons above a specified age who, during the short reference period, were neither in employment nor in unemployment but who were considered as either (a) unavailable jobseekers (seeking employment but not currently available) or (b) available potential jobseekers (currently available for employment but did not carry out activities to seek employment). The relationship among the various concepts is shown in the figure below. Note: The employed excludes workers engaged in the production of goods or services for own consumption or in other forms of work not regarded as employment. Discouraged jobseekers Among the potential labour force, one particular group requires separate attention. These are the so- called discouraged jobseekers. Discouraged jobseekers are persons outside the labour force who wanted employment and were currently available but did not seek employment during the short reference period of measurement for labour market-related reasons as listed below: – past failure to find a suitable job – lack of experience – lack of qualifications or jobs matching the person’s skills
33 Labour Force Survey, Methodology LFS, Methodology © NISR, 2024 – lack of jobs in the area – considered too young or too old by prospective employers The discouraged jobseekers are a subset of the potential labour force, or more particularly, a subset of the “available potential jobseekers”. During the survey reference period, they wanted and were available for employment, but were not seeking employment for labour market-related reasons as opposed to personal, family or other non-labour related reasons. They are considered as potential jobseekers because in principle they have been seeking employment in the past but stopped looking for employment after failure or repeated failures to obtain suitable employment due to various reasons related to the unsuitability of their age, qualification, work experience, and similar labour-market reasons. If these obstacles could be overcome, they would presumably be again jobseekers. Others outside the labour force The potential labour force is one group of persons outside the labour force. In general, persons outside the labour force include persons of working age population who were neither in employment nor in unemployment during the reference period of measurement. Persons outside the labour force may be classified in terms of their current main activity status as well as the main reason for not being engaged in the labour force and their potential future labour force engagement. The international standards recommend the classification of persons outside the labour force by main activity status, as self-declared, with the following categories: – own-use production of goods or own-use provision of services; – unpaid-trainee work; – volunteer work; – studies; – self-care (due to illness or disability); – leisure activities (social, cultural, recreational). The main status of the individual is to be determined by the person himself or herself, or in practice by the survey respondent if the survey allows for proxy-response. Additional classifications of the population outside of the labour force (or more generally, the population not in employment) that may be considered in survey design are past work employment and characteristics of last employment for those who had past employment experience, and main current source of livelihood. Willing non-jobseekers One particular group of persons outside the labour force who are not in the potential labour but have some attachment to the labour force are the so-called “willing non-jobseekers”. Willing non-jobseekers are defined as persons who wanted employment but were not seeking employment and were not currently available for employment during the corresponding specified reference periods of measurement. The willing non-jobseekers are a subset of the persons outside the labour force, and more particularly, a subset of those persons outside the labour force who are not in the potential labour force. The willing non-jobseekers were not seeking employment, nor were available for employment during the appropriate reference periods and as a result are not classified as unemployed or as potential labour force. However, they wanted employment during the appropriate reference period, and in this sense they are considered as a separate category among the population outside the labour force.
34 Labour Force Survey, Methodology LFS, Methodology © NISR, 2024 Own-use production work Persons in own-use production work are defined as all those of working age who, during a short reference period, performed any activity to produce goods or provide services for own final use for a cumulative total of at least one hour. “For own final use” is interpreted as production where the intended destination of the output is mainly for final use (in the form of capital formation, or final consumption by household members, or by family members living in other households). In the case of agricultural, fishing, hunting or gathering goods intended mainly for own consumption, a part or surplus may nevertheless be sold or bartered. Subsistence foodstuff producers constitute an important subgroup of persons in own-use production work. They are defined as all those who performed any of the specified activities to produce foodstuff from agriculture, fishing, hunting or gathering that contribute to the livelihood of the household or family. Excluded are persons who engaged in such production as recreational or leisure activities. Own-use producers and in particular persons engaged in own-use production of goods such as subsistence foodstuff producers (and for that also matter unpaid trainee workers or volunteer workers) may be engaged, in the same reference period, in other activities, including employment or search for employment. On the basis of their other activity, therefore, certain own-use producers may also be in the labour force and classified as employed, unemployed or other labour underutilization category. The following table lists the terminology and definitions of the main labour force and labour underutilization indicators used in the survey. The definitions of other concepts used in the survey are described as part of the analysis of the data in the body of the report. Main labour force and labour underutilization indicators Concept Definition Working age population (Pop16+) E+U+N Labour force (LF) LF = E+U Potential labour force P Extended labour force (XLF) XLF = E+U+P Employment E Unemployment U Time-related underemployment T Labour force participation rate LF/Pop16+ Employment-population ratio E/Pop16+ Unemployment rate (LU1) U/LF Combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment (LU2) (U+T)/LF Combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force (LU3) (U+P)/XLF Composite measure of labour underutilization (LU4) (U+T+P)/XLF
35 Labour Force Survey, Methodology LFS, Methodology © NISR, 2024 Annex 3: LFS Methodology Contributors Murenzi Ivan, Director General, NISR Byiringiro James, Survey Program Manager, NISR Tuyisenge Methode, Economic Statistics Specialist, NISR Ramiro Flores Cruz, International Consultant
36 Labour Force Survey, Methodology LFS, Methodology © NISR, 2024 Annex 4: LFS Questionnaire Section 0: HOUSEHOLD LOCALIZATION INFORMATION PROVIDED TO INTERVIEWERS PSU_NO PSU NUMBER HL1 PROVINCE HL2 DISTRICT HL3 SECTOR HL4 CELL HL5 VILLAGE CODE_UR URBAN OR RURAL? URBAN 01 RURAL 02 HHLSTRUCT STRUCTURE NUMBER HHLNO HOUSEHOLD NUMBER QH_NO QUESTIONNAIRE NUMBER NAME_HEAD NAME OF THE HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD PHONEN HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD PHONE NUMBER SAMEHH THE SAME HOUSEHOLD VISITED LAST TIME? YES 01 NO 02 HHRG ROTATION HHGAP NUMBER OF GROUP APPEARANCE HHGAC NUMBER OF GROUP ACCEPTANCE RDAY DAY RMONTH MONTH RYEAR YEAR CONSENT HOUSEHOLD ECCEPTED INTERVIEW? YES 01 NO 02 REASON REASON FOR NON-INTERVIEW (After filling reason for non-interview, Take GPS and End questionnaire) Temporally absent 01 Refused 02 Unable to locate 03 Vacant 04 Converted to business, etc. 05 Demolished 06 Other non-Interview 07 START_TIME Time of interview start DD-MM-YYYY hh:mm:ss END_TIME Time of interview start DD-MM-YYYY hh:mm:ss COMP_QSE HOUSEHOLD COMPLETED? YES 01 NO 02 GPS_LATITUDE latitude GPS_LONGITUDE longitude