El Salvador
Title of the survey
Encuesta mensual de Empleo, Horas y Salarios (Monthly Survey of
Employment, Hours and Wages)
Organization responsible
Ministerio de Trabajo y Previsión Social, Departamento de Estadística.
Periodicity of the survey
Monthly.
Objectives of the survey
To supply information on the labour market and to determine one of the
components of production costs, the level of earnings and the
consumption capacity of the workers.
The main objective is to provide the government with the tools needed
for planning and defining a policy to reactivate the economy.
Main labour topics covered by the survey
Employment, hours of work and wages.
Reference period
A period of employment and pay ending on or about the 15th of each
month.
Coverage of the survey
Geographical
The modern urban sector of the country, at the level of three regions
(western, central and central-eastern).
Industrial
All non-agricultural economic activities, except for mining and
quarrying and the ministry of defence.
Establishments
Establishments with five or more workers in the modern urban
sector.
Persons
All persons employed, separately for manual and non-manual workers.
Occupations
Not relevant.
Concepts and definitions
Employment
Persons employed cover proprietors and active partners, wage
earners and salaried employees, unpaid family workers and other unpaid
workers, divided into:
- proprietors, active partners and unpaid workers, and
- employees, i.e. workers who have worked throughout the week or part
thereof which ends on or about the 15th of each month and for which they
have received payment. Employees include manual and non-manual workers,
foremen and apprentices at work, and persons who are absent because of
sickness or paid vacation. Employees are divided into:
- manual workers and operatives whose work is directly related to the
production process or tasks directly ancillary to production, such as
assembly, inspection, maintenance, sales, distribution of products,
etc.,
- apprentices: persons who work for an agreed period for the
establishment where they are given the training necessary for a trade,
craft or occupation, and for which they are paid a cash wage which is
lower than the minimum in force,
- non-manual workers: administrative and technical workers, including
managers and directors with a salary.
Earnings
These are the earnings in cash paid to manual workers in
manufacturing. They include payments for time worked or work
done, together with remuneration for time not worked, such as vacations
and public holidays. They refer to gross earnings, i.e. before any
deduction by way of taxes or workers' contributions to social security.
Wage/salary rates
Not relevant.
Hours of work
There are hours actually worked by manual workers in
manufacturing. They include normal hours of work and overtime.
International recommendations
The concept of earnings is restricted to earnings in cash.
No information is available for determining whether the concept of hours
actually worked conforms with the relevant concept in the international
recommendations, or whether they also include normal hours not worked
because of vacation, public holidays, sickness or accident, etc., in
which case the definition used would be closer to the concept of
hours paid for.
Classifications
Industrial
Economic activities are classified according to the divisions and groups
of the International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic
activities (ISIC), Rev. 2, 1968.
Occupational
Not relevant.
Others
The data are classified by sex and region.
Sample size and design
Statistical unit
The reporting unit is the establishment.
Survey universe / sample frame
The sample frame is the directory of enterprises in the modern urban
sector, of the Ministerio de Trabajo y Previsión Social.
Sample design
The survey is based on a sample of 907 establishments. The sample was
stratified by the number of persons at work. All establishments with
100 or more workers were selected directly; the remaining establishments
were grouped in four size classes (five to nine workers; 10 to 19; 20
to 49 and 50 to 99); the sample establishments were selected from these
at random.
Field work
Data collection
The questionnaire is sent by post every month to the selected
establishments.
Survey questionnaire
Not available.
Substitution of sampling units
The establishments are not replaced in case of non-response.
Data processing and editing
Information not available.
Types of estimates
Total employment, average earnings per hour and week and average hours
per week.
Construction of indices
None.
Weighting of sample results
The results of the survey are not expanded to the level of the
sample frame.
Adjustments
Non-response
None. Missing data are imputed from information submitted in the
previous period.
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 calculated.
Non-response rate
Not available.
Non-sampling errors
Not available.
Conformity with other sources
Not relevant.
Available series
- Number of employees by category (manual and non-manual workers),
economic activity, sex and region,
- average hours and wages per week and wages per hour, of manual
workers in manufacturing, by industry group, region and sex.
History of the survey
The Monthly Survey of Employment, Hours and Wages has been carried
out since 1954.
Documentation
Ministerio de Trabajo y Previsión Social, Departamento de Estadística:
Estadísticas del Trabajo (annual, San Salvador).
Confidentiality / Reliability criteria
Not available.
Other information
Data supplied to the ILO for publication
The following are published in the Yearbook of Labour
Statistics:
- paid employment in non-agricultural activities and in particular
industries, in Tables 3B, 4, 5A and 5B, 7 and 8;
- averages hours worked and earnings per hour of manual worker in
manufacturing, in Tables 12A and 12B and 17A and B.
Monthly series on paid employment in non-agricultural activities and
in manufacturing are also published in the Bulletin of Labour
Statistics.