Kuwait

Title of the survey

Annual Survey of Establishments.

Organization responsible

The Central Statistical Office is responsible for collecting, compiling and publishing the data.

Periodicity of the survey

Annual.

Objectives of the survey

To provide the data required for the compilation of annual statistical reports and for the preparation of national accounts.

Main labour topics covered by the survey

Employment, earnings, hours of work and compensation of employees.

Reference period

The statistics compiled relate to the calendar year. However, where data are available only for an accounting year different from the calendar year, data are collected for the accounting period, the major part of which covers the calendar year. For establishments in the petroleum sector which use the fiscal year for their accounting, estimates are made for the calendar year: employment, wages and salaries are estimated as the average of the data available for the two consecutive fiscal years. Data on hours of work refer to one week.

Coverage of the survey

Geographical

All areas within the territorial and off-shore boundaries of Kuwait.

Industrial

Industry: exploration and production of crude petroleum and natural gas, other mining and quarrying and manufacturing; Wholesale trade and retail trade; Construction; and Services: restaurants and hotels, transport and storage, real estate and business services, private sanitary services, education, medical and health services, private motion picture production, distribution and other entertainment services, and personal and household services, excluding domestic services.

Establishments

Establishments of all types and sizes in the private and public sectors (including joint ownership).

Persons

All persons engaged in the establishments.

Occupations

Not relevant.

Concepts and definitions

Employment

Data on employment refer to all persons engaged, i.e. persons who work in the establishment, including working proprietors, active business partners and unpaid family workers, full- and part-time employees, seasonal workers, and persons on short-term leave such as sick or annual leave, vacation or holidays. Persons on military leave and indefinite leave are excluded, as are members of the board of directors who are paid solely for their attendance at meetings and labour made available to the establishment on a contract basis. Working proprietors and active business partners are all individual proprietors and partners who are actively engaged in the work of the establishment. Unpaid family workers are all persons living in the household of the proprietor of the enterprise and working in the establishment without regular pay for at least one third of the period. Employees are all persons who work in or for the establishment and receive pay, in cash or in kind, at regular intervals, i.e. all persons engaged in the establishment other than working proprietors and unpaid workers. A distinction is made between operatives (all employees who are directly engaged in the production or related activities of the establishment, i.e. persons engaged in fabricating, processing, assembling, packing, repairs or maintenance) and other employees (all those not considered as operatives, including administrative, technical and clerical personnel, such as salaried managers and directors, laboratory and research workers, clerks, typists, administrative supervisors, salespersons, etc.).

Earnings

Data are collected on total wages and salaries of employees, comprising all payments, whether in cash or in kind, made by the employer in return for work done, to all persons included in the count of employees. Included are all cash payments, bonuses, cost-of-living allowances and wages paid during periods of vacation and sick leave and payments in kind. Allowances paid to meet fully or partly the cost of education of employees' children are not included. Cash wages are distinguished from payments in kind. Payments in kind include the cost of food, beverage, tobacco, clothing and housing provided free or at a markedly reduced cost by the employer.

Wage/salary rates

Not relevant.

Compensation of employees

Data are collected on the total compensation of employees paid with respect to all employees, comprising all payments of wages and salaries, in cash and in kind, and employers contributions to social security schemes, unemployment compensation and workers' accident compensation plans, insurance premiums on hospital and medical plans, pension and life insurance schemes, etc. Employers' cost for vocational training and employees' education, cost of work clothes and cost of recruitment are excluded from compensation of employees and included in intermediate consumption.

Hours of work

Data are collected on the average number of hours actually worked by employees during a week. These include hours worked during normal periods of time, overtime and inactive periods of time spent at the workplace (while workers are waiting or standing by). They exclude hours paid for but not worked, for vacation or holidays, sickness or accident, maternity or parental leave, civil responsibilities, etc. The total number of hours worked by operatives, Kuwaiti/non-Kuwaiti and men/women, is collected separately.

International recommendations

The concept of wages and salaries used in the survey corresponds to that of earnings as defined in the international recommendations. It includes all regular and irregular payments, in kind and in cash, made during the reference year. The concept of compensation of employees follows the United Nations recommendations with regard to industrial statistics and corresponds to the definition given in the United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA). The definition of hours actually worked corresponds to the concept contained in the international guidelines.

Classifications

Components of labour cost / compensation of employees

Data are classified according to the two main groups of components of compensation of employees:

Industrial

Establishments are classified by economic activity as determined by the principal class of goods produced or kinds of services rendered, according to the Industrial Classification, 1984, of the Central Statistical Office. If an establishment produces a variety of goods or performs a variety of services, thus performing more than one industrial activity, it is classified according to the activity which accounts for the major part of the gross output. The Industrial Classification provides for a five-digit classification, which is an extension of the four-digit International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities (ISIC), Rev.2, 1968.

Occupational

Not relevant.

Others

Sample size and design

Statistical unit

The sampling and reporting unit is the establishment, defined as an economic unit engaged under a single ownership or control (i.e. under a single legal entity) in one or predominantly one kind of economic activity at a single physical location, e.g. an individual mine, factory, workshop, store, shop or office. The establishment may include ancilliary units, e.g. subsidiary warehouses, garages and offices in its proximity.

Survey universe / sample frame

The survey frame comprises a list of establishments compiled from the 1985 Census of Establishments, which is updated every year. Prior to 1987, the list of establishments was drawn from the 1980 Census of Establishments.

Sample design

The survey is conducted on a census and sample basis. Establishments were classified at the five-digit level of the industrial classification and by size. For industry, all establishments in activities with fewer than 20 establishments are selected, as well as all those with ten or more persons engaged. In construction, wholesale and retail trade and services, all establishments with ten or more persons engaged are included. All other establishments in all activities are covered on a sample basis, with a sample taken from each activity and size group. The scheme adopted resulted in most activities being covered on a census basis. In 1987, data were collected from 1,207 establishments in industry, 550 in construction, 1,609 in wholesale and retail trade and 1,329 in services.

Field work

Data collection

Trained enumerators contact each establishment in the sample, and collect the data by direct field enumeration. Wherever available, data from published annual reports, profit and loss accounts and balance sheets are used to cross check the information reported in the questionnaire.

Survey questionnaire

Data are collected by means of a specially designed questionnaire (not available).

Substitution of sampling units

In case of total non response (because the unit has gone out of business, changed address or refused to respond), the sampling units are replaced by other units with similar characteristics.

Data processing and editing

The questionnaires are subject to careful scrutiny and editing before being passed on for processing by computer. Comprehensive checks are made for the consistency and accuracy of data on the basis of detailed computer editing and correction procedures. Before producing the final tables, print-outs of key items relating to each establishment (output, input, employment, average annual wages and input-output coefficients) are examined for any serious errors or inconsistencies, and corrected where necessary.

Types of estimates

Average number of persons engaged during the year: the arithmetic average of the figures for January and December. The number of part-time workers is converted to full-time equivalents. Average annual earnings: total cash wages divided by the number of employees. Average annual hours worked: total weekly hours multiplied by 52 and divided by the number of employees.

Construction of indices

None.

Weighting of sample results

For activities covered on a sample basis, estimates are made for the whole population. For those covered on a complete enumeration basis, the data relate to those establishments from which returns were received.

Adjustments

Non-response

None.

Other bias

None.

Use of benchmark data

None.

Seasonal variations

Not relevant.

Indicators of reliability of the estimates

Coverage of the sampling frame

While considerable care is taken to update the list of establishments every year by adding newly started large establishments and deleting large units that have ceased to function, it is possible that there may still be some omissions and deficiencies.

Sampling error / sampling variance

Not known.

Non-response rate

Special efforts are made to collect data from all large establishments and follow-up on non-respondents. The non-response rate ranges between 15 and 20 per cent.

Non-sampling errors

Not available.

Conformity with other sources

Not available.

Available series

Separate sets of tables are presented for establishments with ten or more persons engaged, for those with less than ten, and for all establishments together. The main tables relating to labour include the following variables:

History of the survey

The first Survey of Industries, covering mining and manufacturing, took place with reference to 1966, and was carried out without any changes up to 1974. In 1975, the Central Statistical Office widened the scope of the annual survey to cover establishments engaged in wholesale and retail trade, construction and services. This scheme was implemented from 1976 to 1981, and separate reports were published presenting the results relating to mining and manufacturing under the title "Industrial survey". In 1982 a comprehensive review was undertaken of the questionnaires, instructions, data requirements, etc., and a new system was designed to collect basic data each year from establishments, and to computerize data processing and compilation of the statistical tables. This revised scheme was implemented with reference to the calendar year 1982 onwards.

Documentation

Central Statistical Office: Annual survey of establishments - Industry (annual, Kuwait). idem: Annual survey of establishments - Services (ibid.). idem: Annual survey of establishments - Construction (ibid.). idem: Annual survey of establishments - Wholesale and retail Trade (ibid.).

Confidentiality / Reliability criteria

Not available.

Other information

Data supplied to the ILO for publication

The following data are published in the YearBook of Labour Statistics.