Cyprus (1)

Title of the survey

Employment Survey

Organization responsible

Ministry of Finance, Department of Statistics and Research

Periodicity of the survey

Monthly during the period 1986-1988 and quarterly since 1989.

Objectives of the survey

To measure and monitor changes in employment at monthly and quarterly intervals, for the country as a whole, by branch of economic activity and sex.

Main labour topics covered by the survey

Employment and hours of work.

Reference period

Each whole month of the quarter.

Coverage of the survey

Geographical

The Government-controlled area of Cyprus.

Industrial

All branches of economic activity, except the armed forces.

Establishments

All types and sizes of establishments.

Persons

All persons engaged, excluding Cypriots working temporarily abroad, and those working on the British Bases.

Occupations

Not relevant.

Concepts and definitions

Employment

Data are collected on all persons engaged, i.e. all persons present on payroll during the reference month. This includes working proprietors and partners, working directors, full-time and part-time employees, persons on short-term or paid leave (such as sick leave, casual leave or paid vacation), casual, temporary and seasonal workers, apprentices, and unpaid family workers. Excluded are persons temporarily absent without pay or laid off during the reference month, home workers and persons in temporary military service. Employment data are collected separately for the following broad categories, by sex: Data are also collected on the number of employees who work part-time only, i.e. less than 30 hours per week. All persons engaged are called the gainfully employed population in national publications. Data represent the full-time equivalent number of persons who work in or for an establishment.

Earnings

Not relevant.

Wage/salary rates

Not relevant.

Hours of work

Data are collected on normal hours of work per week (excluding overtime) in the establishment. Normal hours refer to those hours fixed by collective agreements or establishments' internal regulations, irrespective of whether they were actually worked, or paid for but not worked.

International recommendations

The definition of normal hours of work conforms to the international guidelines.

Classifications

Industrial

Data on employment are classified according to the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC), Rev.2, 1968, at the two-digit level.

Occupational

Not relevant.

Others

Data are classified by sector (primary, secondary or tertiary) and sex. Government civilian employees are classified by main category of occupation, district and region, department and according to broad public sector and semi-government organizations.

Sample size and design

Statistical unit

The sampling and reporting unit is the establishment, defined as an economic unit which engages, under a single ownership or control, in one or more economic activities at a single physical location. If an enterprise consists of more than one establishment, a separate questionnaire is completed for each of them.

Survey universe / sample frame

This consists of the Registration of Establishments, which is a census of all non-agricultural establishments, and the Census of Agriculture for agricultural establishments. The 1989 Registration of Establishments covered 51,074 establishments, and the 1985 Census of Agriculture, 48,046 establishments. The frame is updated every four to five years, when new censuses are carried out. The next Registration and Census are planned for 1995 and 1994, respectively.

Sample design

The survey is based on a stratified sample. Since 1989 the universe of establishments has been divided into about 350 sampling domains representing the various economic activities. In each sampling domain, there are three types of establishments. Large establishments (those with 30 or more persons employed) are all included in the sample, with weight 1.00. Medium-size establishments (the size of which varies with the stratum) are also all included in the sample, with a weight 1.00. Small establishments are selected with probability proportional to size and with a weight which is the inverse of their probability of selection. Each quarter, the sample consists of a fixed number of large establishments which are the same in each quarter, plus a number of small and medium-size establishments which differ each quarter, but which are the same as those of the corresponding quarter of the previous year. There are about 5,000 small establishments in the sample each year. In addition, a supplementary sample is selected each year from the new establishments which started operations during that year. A completely new sample is selected after completion of a new Registration of Establishments or Census of Agriculture.

Field work

Data collection

The survey is conducted on a continuous basis, by telephone interview. Data are collected by the regular staff of the Department of Statistics and Research, when necessary assisted by employees recruited for that purpose. Employment data for government civilian employees and port workers are based on monthly returns submitted by the various Government departments.

Survey questionnaire

The questionnaire seeks information on the branch of economic activity, the characteristics of the establishment, the number of normal hours worked per week, employment by sex and employment category for each of the previous three months. Explanatory notes on definitions and inclusions are provided with the questionnaire.

Substitution of sampling units

Not necessary (see under Adjustments).

Data processing and editing

Data are processed by computer. Questionnaires are edited both manually and by computer. Computer editing includes checking of employment totals by category, for sudden increases or decreases in employment, and for missing or double entries.

Types of estimates

Quarterly estimates of employment represent the average of the three monthly estimates. In these estimates, part-time employees are converted to full-time equivalents on the basis of the number of hours worked.

Construction of indices

None.

Weighting of sample results

The survey results are grossed up using the inverse of the sampling fraction.

Adjustments

Non-response

In general, only three or four establishments do not cooperate. Data for these establishments are obtained from Social Insurance Records.

Other bias

No adjustments are made for other bias, as there is no other know bias.

Use of benchmark data

Not relevant.

Seasonal variations

The data are not seasonally adjusted.

Indicators of reliability of the estimates

Coverage of the sampling frame

The Registration of Establishments and the Agricultural Census provide for complete coverage of establishments.

Sampling error / sampling variance

Not available.

Non-response rate

Almost zero.

Non-sampling errors

It is believed that there are few non-sampling errors, as the questions are clear and straightforward.

Conformity with other sources

Not relevant.

Available series

The following tables are regularly prepared:

History of the survey

The Employment Survey was introduced in 1981, on a quarterly basis, to replace the Manpower Survey conducted since 1966. From 1981 to 1985, the sample design was based on a stratified cut-off sample, the cut-off point being establishments employing 30 or more persons. A probability sample was used for establishments employing 0-29 persons. Between 1986 and 1988, stratification by branch of economic activity represented 56 domains. Since 1989, it constitutes 350 domains. Up to and including 1992, the survey was carried out by personal interview.

Documentation

Department of Statistics and Research, Ministry of Finance: Labour Statistics (annual; Nicosia); published some ten months after the reference year.

Confidentiality / Reliability criteria

In compliance with the Statistical Law (47/1968), all data collected are treated as confidential and used only for statistical purposes. No data are published for individual enterprises, or where there are only one or two enterprises in an industrial activity, unless prior agreement has been obtained from the enterprise concerned, or in cases where the enterprise is a semi-government organization or a public company.

Other information

Data supplied to the ILO for publication

Statistics of paid employment in manufacturing, derived from the Employment Survey, are published in Table 5B of the Yearbook of Labour Statistics. Quarterly series of employment (all persons engaged) are published in Tables 1, 2 and 3 of the Bulletin of Labour Statistics. Estimates of the gainfully employed population constitute one of the components of official estimates of the economically active population published in Chapter I, and of the employment data published in Tables 3A, 3B, and 4 of the Yearbook. Other sources used for the official estimates of the economically active population are: