Malawi

Title of the survey

Quarterly Employment Enquiry

Organization responsible

National Statistical Office

Periodicity of the survey

Quarterly.

Objectives of the survey

To collect basic data on employment and earnings, which are used for economic analysis of employment.

Main labour topics covered by the survey

Employment and earnings.

Reference period

For employment data on the number of working proprietors and unpaid family workers: the last working day of the reference month (March, June, September and December). For employment data on the number of paid employees: the last pay period of the reference month. For earnings data: the whole reference month.

Coverage of the survey

Geographical

The whole country.

Industrial

All branches of economic activity.

Establishments

All types of establishments regardless of size, in the private, statutory and government sectors. For the purpose of this inquiry, statutory bodies are defined as establishments owned and/or controlled by the Government, but not included in government accounts.

Persons

All persons engaged, except domestic services.

Occupations

Not relevant.

Concepts and definitions

Employment

Data relate to all persons engaged in the private and government sectors. They are defined as the number of paid employees plus the number of working proprietors and unpaid family workers. Data are collected separately on the following categories and by sex: Employees include working directors, wage earners, salaried employees, workers on probation, temporary and seasonal workers, persons temporarily absent from work because of paid and unpaid vacation/holiday, temporary/indefinite lay off, sickness or accident or other reasons, whether authorised or not, and persons temporarily present on payroll during notice period preceding retirement, resignation or dismissal. In the government sector, they include all persons for whom pay vouchers were prepared for the reference month, including field workers based in government establishments. Data on the number of casual labourers, by sex, employed during each of the reference months, are collected separately. Casual labourers are all those persons employed on a daily basis, when work is available, in both the private and public sectors.

Earnings

Data are collected on gross monthly earnings, defined as the total amounts (gross of tax) paid to all employees (excluding casual labourers) during the reference months. Included are pay for normal time worked, premium pay for overtime and commission pay to sales and other personnel; remuneration for time not worked such as annual leave, vacation, public holidays; irregularly paid bonuses and gratuities such as end-of-year, seasonal and similar bonuses. Benefits in kind (collected for the private sector only) are defined as the value, at cost to the employer, of supplying free or subsidized meals, rations or raw food and housing. The value of subsidised housing allocated to civil servants is therefore excluded. Excluded are terminal gratuities and other lump sums, and government allowances for expatriates, which are not paid in Malawi. Data are collected separately on the following components and by sex: Data are also collected on the total cash payments made to all casual labourers, by sex, during the reference months, and on the number of days worked by all casual labourers, by sex. Since the last revision of the survey questionnaire (Rev.5/1994), data are collected on the distribution of employees (excluding casual labourers), by sex, by ranges of basic cash wage or salary rate, for each reference month.

Wage/salary rates

Not relevant.

Hours of work

Not relevant.

International recommendations

The definition of earnings complies with the international recommendations on gross earnings in cash and in kind.

Classifications

Industrial

The International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities (ISIC), Rev.2, 1968 is used, with some slight modifications.

Occupational

Not relevant.

Others

The survey data are classified by type of ownership (private or statutory and government), by region (district or town) and by sex of workers.

Sample size and design

Statistical unit

The sampling and reporting unit is, in principle, the establishment. However, in the case of multi-purpose enterprises, the reporting unit is the actual central administration section of the enterprise, as registered on the Business Information Register.

Survey universe / sample frame

This is the Business Information Register (BIR) which is compiled, maintained and updated by the National Statistical Office. It covers all establishments on the basis of information provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Registrar of Companies, telephone directory and newspapers. Monthly updating consists of deleting closed firms and inserting new ones, and where relevant, updating the already existing information.

Sample design

The survey is based on a complete enumeration of establishments.

Field work

Data collection

Data are collected through mailed questionnaires followed by personal interviews, telephone calls and mail reminders. A permanent survey organization is responsible for data collection.

Survey questionnaire

Two questionnaires are used, one for the private sector, the other for the Government sector. Both questionnaires follow the same format and comprise five parts: An additional question is addressed to private establishments only, which relates to the value of goods sold or services rendered during the reference quarter. The questionnaire comprises some notes on the definitions, inclusions and exclusions.

Substitution of sampling units

There is no substitution of sampling units in case of total non-response.

Data processing and editing

Data is processed by computer. Both checking of questionnaires and editing are done manually. Consistency checks are made on unmatched records, changes in industrial classification or location, high or low average earnings and growth rates.

Types of estimates

Construction of indices

Index numbers are not constructed.

Weighting of sample results

Not relevant.

Adjustments

Non-response

Estimates are made on the basis of the growth rate of employment within each industry. This growth rate is computed only for those establishments within the industry which have responded in the previous and current periods. This estimation factor is applied separately to non-responding establishments in each ISIC major group.

Other bias

No adjustments are made for any other bias.

Use of benchmark data

Not relevant.

Seasonal variations

No adjustments are made for seasonal variations.

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 available.

Conformity with other sources

For some large establishments, employment and earnings are compared with the results of the Annual Economic Survey.

Available series

History of the survey

The survey was first conducted in 1954, with a different coverage. In 1967, it became the responsibility of the National Statistical Office. Prior to 1977, the survey covered only establishments employing 20 persons or more in the private sector. Since that date, it covers establishments of all types and sizes. The design of the questionnaire was revised a number of times. In 1986, a question was added on the number of casual labourers. Until 1994, data on the number of employees and on earnings were collected without distinction by sex. This distinction was introduced in 1994, together with an additional question of the distribution of employees by range of basic wage or salary rate and by sex. The survey reports now show statutory bodies separately.

Documentation

National Statistical Office: Monthly Statistical Bulletin (monthly, Zomba). There is a rather long delay between the survey reference period and the release of the results (about three to four years). idem: Employment and Earnings - Annual Report (annual, ibid.). idem: Statistical Yearbook (annual, ibid.).

Confidentiality / Reliability criteria

The publication of the survey results is subject to confidentiality rules. Data should be released in an aggregated form and should not allow the identification of individual firms.

Other information

Data supplied to the ILO for publication

The following data are published in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics. Quarterly series of employment (employees) and average monthly earnings in non-agricultural activities and manufacturing are published in the Bulletin of Labour Statistics.