Ghana

Title of the survey

Survey of Employment and Earnings.

Organization responsible

Statistical Service.

Periodicity of the survey

Annual.

Objectives of the survey

To provide relevant statistical data that will be of practical usefulness to the Government and employers' organizations for ascertaining trends in wage employment and earnings. The survey results are used primarily for planning and evaluating various aspects of economic policy measures designed at promoting employment.

Main labour topics covered by the survey

Employment, earnings and hours of work.

Reference period

The last pay-week of December.

Coverage of the survey

Geographical

The whole country.

Industrial

All branches of economic activity, except the armed forces and household services.

Establishments

All types and sizes of establishments which have identifiable business premises in Ghana.

Persons

All employees, including working proprietors. Excluded are self-employed workers and unpaid family workers.

Occupations

All occupations are covered. Data are collected according to seven occupational groups (see under Classifications).

Concepts and definitions

Employment

An employee is defined as any person who did work for pay and was paid an agreed wage or salary in cash during the last pay-week of the reference month. Full- and part-time employees are covered by this definition, as well as all civilian employees within the armed forces, where such establishments are to be identified. Employment figures therefore cover:

all persons in employment, irrespective of whether on sick, maternity or annual leave;
senior management staff and working proprietors;
personnel in the Ghana Police Service and related organizations, and employees in government-controlled departments and offices engaged in administration, defence and regulation of public order, promotion of health, education, social welfare, sanitation, etc.;
foreign nationals who draw full or part of their salaries and allowances from the establishment; and
Ghanaians employed with foreign diplomatic missions, foreign airline companies, international organizations and non-governmental, non-profit making institutions operating business premises in Ghana.

Data are collected separately on the following categories of persons engaged, by sex:

working proprietors;
full-time employees:
- identified according to seven occupational groups;
part-time employees, of whom:
- daily-paid workers;
- other part-time workers;
daily-paid workers and other part-time workers constitute the subgroup of wage earners.

Data on employees normally exclude persons who do not meet the criteria of the definition or whose situation is not full relevant to the scope of the survey, i.e. home workers, trainees, piece workers, commission agents, workers from other companies or work agencies, temporary and seasonal workers, and employees on indefinite lay off.

Earnings

Data are collected on total gross earnings paid to each category of employees, before deduction of employees' income and other taxes, contributions to social security and pension schemes, union dues and other employees' obligations. Gross earnings include the following three main components for which aggregate amounts are separately identified, for each category of employees and by sex:

wages and salaries actually paid, i.e. the actual basic wage and salary rates of employees paid for normal time of work, excluding cost-of-living allowances, other guaranteed and regularly paid reimbursements for transportation and similar expenses, overtime payments, bonuses and gratuities, etc. supplementary to normal wage and salary rates;
regularly paid bonuses and commissions, i.e. all regular bonuses and gratuities, year-end profit sharing bonuses, payments for overtime work, overtime premium, cost-of-living allowances, and similar bonuses and honoraria;
other allowances and value of allowances in kind, i.e. the actual and imputed value of rent allowance; transport allowance; the cost of rations including meals paid to employees; the value of uniforms, clothing, bedding, etc.; medical benefits; annual leave passages and other paid leave or holidays; all other elements of earnings which are usually received regularly; and the value of housing, if provided by the employer; in the latter case, the value of housing is estimated at employers' cost, i.e. it represents either the rent paid by the employer for the employee, or the estimated rent the employer would get if he were to let the accommodation on the open market, in case of employer-owned housing.

Wage/salary rates

The objective of the survey is not to collect data on wage rates. However, the definition of wages and salaries actually paid used in this survey corresponds to that of basic wage rates paid for normal hours of work and the data are collected by category of employee and by sex.

Hours of work

Data are collected on the number of normal hours of work for the last pay-week of the reference month, irrespective of the category of workers. Normal hours of work are those 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 earnings and normal hours of work conform to the international recommendations.

Classifications

Industrial

Data on employment and earnings are classified according to the International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities (ISIC), Rev. 2, 1968. Nine major groups are used for the coding of economic activities.

Occupational

Data on employment and earnings of full-time employees are classified according to the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-68). Seven major groups are used for coding:

professional, technical and related workers,
legislators, administrative and managerial workers (including working directors),
clerical and related workers,
sales and service workers,
agriculture, forestry and fishery workers,
industrial workers and transport equipment operators,
other elementary occupations and labourers.

Part-time employees are not classified by occupational group.

Others

Data are also classified by region, district, location, type of ownership and type of organization, as well as according to employees' characteristics: sex, permanent or temporary, full- or part-time.

Sample size and design

Statistical unit

The sampling and reporting unit is the establishment, defined as an economic unit or branch of an enterprise under a single or joint ownership at a single physical location (e.g. a store, factory, workshop or office of an enterprise). Where such a unit or branch forms part of an enterprise operating many other units in one locality and/or produces more than one group of products, or is engaged in more than one economic activity, separate returns a filled in on each line of production.

Survey universe / sample frame

The list of establishments based on the results the Industrial Census, and updated each year by local enumeration. The universe comprises some 7,000 establishments.

Sample design

The survey is a complete enumeration of establishments covered.

Field work

Data collection

This takes place during the period from December of a given year to 15 February of the following year. A questionnaire is mailed to each establishment which must complete and return it within two weeks of receipt. If necessary, enumerators from the permanent survey organization may visit the establishment and assist the respondent in completing the form.

Survey questionnaire

The questionnaire consists of two pages and is designed to collect information on:

the characteristics of establishments (address, location, main activity and product or service, type of organization and type of ownership, etc.);
normal hours of work in the establishment;
number of persons and earnings by main components, for each category of employees and by sex.

Explanatory notes and instructions on definitions, inclusions and exclusions are provided with the questionnaire. An Interviewer's Manual is also available for enumerators.

Substitution of sampling units

Not relevant.

Data processing and editing

Survey responses are coded in the Office. Data are edited manually and processed by personal computer. In cases of total non-response, establishments are visited fortnightly. In the case of missing or inconsistent data, they are contacted by telephone and where possible, after the telephone contact, enumerators visit the establishment for clarifications and corrections.

Types of estimates

Totals and monthly averages of employment, earnings and normal hours of work.

Construction of indices

None.

Weighting of sample results

Not relevant.

Adjustments

Non-response

None.

Other bias

None.

Use of benchmark data

Not relevant.

Seasonal variations

Not relevant.

Indicators of reliability of the estimates

Coverage of the sampling frame

Total coverage is aimed at through the Industrial Census.

Sampling error / sampling variance

Not relevant.

Non-response rate

Not available.

Non-sampling errors

Not available.

Conformity with other sources

Not relevant.

Available series

The following tables are prepared regularly:

recorded employment in establishments irrespective of size, by major economic activity and sector;
average monthly earnings per employee in establishments irrespective of size, by major economic activity and sector.

History of the survey

The Survey on Employment and Earnings was introduced in 1966. Since then, the survey questionnaire has been revised several times, with a view to improving data collection and details obtained. The questionnaire was last revised in 1989.

Documentation

Statistical Service: Quarterly Digest of Statistics (Accra). idem: Survey on Employment and Earnings (annual, ibid.). This publication contains methodological details. Unpublished data that do not appear in national publications may be made available upon request, on paper and on diskettes.

Confidentiality / Reliability criteria

The survey is conducted under Section 15 of the P.N.D.C. Statistical Service Law 135 of 1985 which makes it compulsory for establishments to complete and return the questionnaires and to provide accurate and correct information. No specific law or regulation applies to confidentiality of the data.

Other information

Data supplied to the ILO for publication

The following data are published in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics:

paid employment: general level, employment by industry, in non-agricultural activities and in specific industries, in Tables 3A, 3B, 4, 5A, 6, 7 and 8, for males and females combined;
average monthly earnings of employees, in non-agricultural activities, manufacturing, mining and quarrying, construction, transport, storage and communication and agriculture in Tables 16, 17A, 18, 19, 20 and 21, for males and females combined.