Bolivia (1)
Title of the survey
Estadísticas de salarios medios del sector privado (registros
administrativos) (Statistics of average wages in the private sector
(Administrative records)).
Organization responsible
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE).
Periodicity of the survey
Quarterly.
Objectives of the survey
Short-term measurement of changes in average wages (nominal and real) in
the private sector. In general terms, this serves as basic information
for overall and sectoral planning in the area of wages. Specifically,
it forms an objective basis for the analysis of the purchasing power of
wages.
Main labour topics covered by the survey
Earnings for a normal working day.
Reference period
One month (March, June, September and December).
Coverage of the survey
Geographical
The cities of La Paz and El Alto only.
Industrial
The following branches of activity are covered: mining and quarrying;
manufacturing; construction; wholesale and retail trades, restaurants
and hotels; banking and insurance; community, social and personal
services.
Agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing are excluded. The branches
of electricity, gas and water, transport and communications are not
taken into account in assessing the general average, since in these
branches the number of enterprises in the private sector is not
representative.
Establishments
Enterprises in the private sector with five or more workers, which
are registered with and submit their payrolls of wages and salaries to
the Ministerio de Trabajo.
Persons
Employees who appear on the payrolls.
The following are excluded: own account workers, working proprietors,
unpaid family workers and workers paid entirely in kind.
Occupations
For the purpose of measuring average wages, all occupations are
considered together.
Detailed information on occupations is collected, however, with a view
to other analyses.
Concepts and definitions
Employment
Within the total number of employees, the following
categories are distinguished:
- managers and administrators: persons who perform managerial tasks
or at a high level in the enterprise;
- salaried employees: persons occupied on work of an administrative
or technical nature, in sales and in other services;
- wage earners: workers directly engaged in the production process
or related activities.
Persons temporarily absent from work because of vacation, industrial
dispute, sickness or accident are included, provided they appear on
the payroll.
The following are excluded: home workers, casual, temporary and seasonal
workers, workers sub-contracted from other firms and workers absent from
work without pay.
Earnings
These refer to the normal cash earnings of permanent
employees, and consist of the total monthly cash wage or salary (before
deductions or reductions) received by the worker for a normal working
day. They include wages and salaries, bonuses for production, seniority
and category of work, commissions on sales etc., which are paid
regularly. Earnings for time not worked such as for annual leave,
vacation, public holidays or other time off with pay are also included.
This component is called the
total earned.
The following are excluded: pay for overtime and night work, work on
Sundays and holidays, family allowances (maternity subsidies and
subsidies to nursing mothers) and other allowances, bonuses or
gratuities paid regularly or irregularly. Payments in kind are also
excluded.
In the case of mining, wages are paid through the system of mita,
or working days. This includes housing and the contract (basic pay),
plus the bonuses in each case which make up the miner's total earned.
Mitas for overtime and night work are also excluded, together
with mitas for Sundays and holidays.
Wage/salary rates
See the previous definition and the section International
recommendations.
Hours of work
Not relevant.
International recommendations
The concept of normal cash earnings or total earned
applied in this survey corresponds to earnings in cash for a normal
working day. It excludes premiums for overtime, allowances and
gratuities, irregular payments and payment in kind. It represents a
more restricted concept than that of earnings which appears in the
international recommendations, and is closer to the concept of monthly
wage rates paid in cash.
Classifications
Industrial
The International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic
activities (ISIC), Rev.2, 1968, at the one-digit level is used.
Occupational
For the purpose of this survey, the data are not broken down by
occupational groups (but see under Data supplied to the ILO for
publication).
Others
By size of enterprise (5-9 workers, 10-19, 20-49 and over 50).
Sample size and design
Statistical unit
The unit of observation is the enterprise in the private
sector. It is defined as an economic unit which submits a single
payroll, identified by a code allocated by the national health insurance
fund for employers' contributions.
Survey universe / sample frame
The register of enterprises of the Ministerio del Trabajo is used. This
includes all the enterprises with five or more workers in the private
sector (approximately 1,500 enterprises).
Sample design
Data are obtained from the administrative registers which cover all
registered enterprises.
Field work
Data collection
Data are collected from the payrolls registered with the Ministerio del
Trabajo.
Survey questionnaire
Not available.
Substitution of sampling units
Not relevant.
Data processing and editing
The basic information is transcribed onto a form specially designed for
this purpose. The data are then stored in a database, and the data are
corrected, examined and verified. Programmes are used to check internal
consistency, totals and ranges of values (minimum and maximum).
Finally, tables are constructed, in accordance with the tabulation plan.
Types of estimates
Monthly averages, four times a year.
Within the employment totals, the number of part-time workers is
adjusted in accordance with the portion of the normal working day.
The statistics of wages are obtained as an arithmetical mean of the
salaries (the total earned) in the enterprises. This average forms the
average wage expressed in Bolivian currency (bolivianos) or nominal
wages.
The real average wage is obtained by dividing the nominal salary by the
variation in the consumer price index (IPC) for the same period, with
respect to the base year 1987.
Construction of indices
Not relevant.
Weighting of sample results
Not relevant.
Adjustments
Non-response
None (these are administrative records).
Other bias
None.
Use of benchmark data
Not relevant.
Seasonal variations
Not relevant.
Indicators of reliability of the estimates
Coverage of the sampling frame
Not available.
Sampling error / sampling variance
Not relevant.
Non-response rate
Not available.
Non-sampling errors
Not relevant.
Conformity with other sources
Not relevant.
Available series
Nominal and real average wages in the private sector are available by
branch of economic activity, for each quarter.
History of the survey
The processing of information from records started in 1970, by the
Ministerio de Tragajo. The INE began to make use of this information in
1983.
The 1983-1987 series were established on the basis of a sample, the
frame of which was the register of payrolls in the Ministerio de
Trabajo. Transcription was carried out at the worker level, and the
estimates of wages covered averages, distributions, deviations, etc.
As from 1988 the system was changed in view of the low coverage of
registered enterprises, as a result of which the records of the
Ministerio de Trabajo were discontinued. At present, the collection of
information is improving and it is intended to carry out a Survey of
Earnings, with a more detailed breakdown of occupations, a sample design
based on the second Economic Census and a greater number of variables.
Documentation
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE): Estadísticas del
trabajo (annual; La Paz).
Data were formerly published in the Boletín de estadísticas de
remuneraciones.
Confidentiality / Reliability criteria
Not relevant.
Other information
Data supplied to the ILO for publication
Data on average monthly wage rates of employees (corresponding to the
average earnings for a normal working day) in non-agricultural
activities and in specific industries are published in Tables 16, 17A,
18 and 19 of the Yearbook of Labour Statistics. These refer to
September of each year.
Data on average occupational wages are also obtained through these
registers. Averages wage rates, monthly earnings and hours per week by
occupation, in the Department of La Paz, are published in
Statistics on occupational wages and hours of work and on food
prices - October Inquiry results, a special supplement to the
Bulletin of Labour Statistics.