Netherlands Antilles
1.Title of the survey:
Labour Force Survey (Arbeidskrachtenonderzoek).
2.Organization responsible for the survey:
Central Bureau of Statistics.
3.Coverage of the survey:
(a) Geographical:
The islands of Curaçao and Bonaire in 1987.
The whole country in 1988. Curaçao only in 1989.
(b) Persons covered:
All persons living in private households, including members of the armed forces living in private households.
Excluded is the institutional population.
The economically active population refers to persons aged 14 years and over.
4.Periodicity of the survey:
The survey has been conducted annually with different scopes (see under History of the Survey). It is planned to be carried out once a year, at least for the island of Curaçao.
5.Reference period:
The week prior to the interview.
6.Topics covered:
The survey provides information on employment, unemployment, underemployment, hours of work, income, duration of unemployment, discouraged workers, industry, occupation, status in employment, level of education and usual activity.
7.Concepts and definitions:
(a) Employment:
"This includes all persons aged 14 years and over who worked four hours or more during the reference week, and those who have a job, but worked less than four hours during the reference week, due to vacation, sickness, "A.O." (i.e. declared unfit to work for a period of time by a physician due to illness), strike, pregnancy leave, etc."
Included in the employed are:
- full- and part-time workers seeking other work during the reference week;
- full- and part-time students working full- or part-time;
- persons who performed some work for pay or profit during the reference week, while being subject to compulsory schooling; or retired and receiving a pension; or registered as jobseekers at an employment office or receiving unemployment benefits;
- paid and unpaid apprentices and trainees;
- participants in employment promotion schemes;
- paid and unpaid family workers, provided they have worked at least four hours during the reference week;
- private domestic servants;
- members of producers' co-operatives;
- members of the armed forces (volunteers, career members and conscripts);
- persons with a job but temporarily absent due to educational leave, bad weather, mechanical breakdown or other reduction in economic activity.
Excluded from the employed are:
- persons on temporary or indefinite lay-off without pay;
- unpaid family workers who were temporarily absent from work;
- persons engaged in own housework;
- persons doing unpaid community or social work.
These persons are considered as unemployed if they satisfy the criteria of the unemployment definition, and if not, out of the labour force.
(b) Underemployment:
The underemployed are those employed persons who want to work more hours than they do in their present job or jobs and who are looking for another job or a second additional job, or have any plans to begin to work for themselves.
(c) Unemployment:
The unemployed are all persons aged 14 years and over who did not work four hours during the reference week, are currently not working, are looking for work or wish to work for themselves, or have been looking for work during the month prior to the interview and are available to start work within a two-week period.
"Looking for work" is interpreted as having taken one or more of the following actions during the month preceding the interview: personal visits to firms; applied personally in writing to firms; personally placed or answered advertisements; registered with the Labour Office/Department; contacted friends or family; sought employment off the island, etc.
Included as unemployed are full- and part-time students seeking full- or part-time work.
Persons without a job and currently available for work who have made arrangements to start a new job on a date subsequent to the reference period, as well as seasonal workers awaiting agricultural or other seasonal work, are considered as unemployed if they fulfil the criteria of the unemployment definition. If not, they are classified as out of the labour force, together with persons on temporary or indefinite lay-off without pay.
(d) Hours of work:
For employees, they relate to contractual hours and to hours actually worked in main and secondary jobs during the reference week, including overtime, shift work, etc. For the other categories of employed persons, hours of work refer to usual hours per week.
Data are collected and published in terms of hours per week.
(e) Informal sector:
Informal sector activities are usually under-reported and data are not tabulated on this topic.
(f) Usual activity:
It relates to the activity of those persons who have not worked four hours during the reference week, are currently not working, but have worked during the past 12 months on an average of more than four hours per week. It also covers employed persons who have worked during the past two months on an average of more than half-a-day per week.
8.Classifications used:
Both employed and unemployed persons with previous work experience are classified by industry, occupation and status in employment. All persons covered by the survey are classified by level of education.
(a) Industry:
The national classification is the CBS Industry Classification (CBS Bedrijfs-klassificatie). Coding is done to 15 groups. This classification is linked to the International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC-1968) at the 1-digit level in general and at the 2- and 3-digit levels in the case of major divisions 6 (Wholesale and retail trade) and 9 (Services).
(b) Occupation:
The national classification is the CBS Occupational Classification (CBS Beroeps-Klassificatie). Coding is done to 21 groups. The link with the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-1968) is established at the major group and some minor group levels (one and two digits).
(c) Status in employment:
The classification includes the following categories:
- Employer,
- Small independent/Self-employed person,
- Employee in permanent service,
- Employee in temporary service,
- Casual service or casual jobs,
- Family member working in family business,
- Other and unknown.
(d) Level of education/qualifications:
Both levels of daytime education and course or part-time education are investigated. Data are classified under 78 groups. The classification is linked to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED-1976).
9.Sample size and design:
(a) The sample frame:
It is constituted by the Civil Register of households which is updated on a continuous basis.
(b) The sample:
It is based on a one-stage systematic sample design, without stratification, where households are the ultimate sampling units.
In 1988 when the survey covered the whole country, the sampling size and sampling fraction were as follows:
| Island
| Number of Households | Number of Persons | Sampling Fraction
|
|---|
| Curaçao
| 2,163 | 8,770 | 5.8
|
| Bonaire
| 524 | 1,951 | 18.4
|
| St. Maarten
| 644 | 2,204 | 8.2
|
| St. Eustatius
| 111 | 324 | 17.2
|
| Saba
| 92 | 254 | 22.4
|
(c) Rotation:
In Curaçao and Bonaire, 1/3 of the 1987 sample was again interviewed in 1988. There are no definite plans for future surveys.
10.Field work:
(a) Data collection:
Data are collected by personal interviews conducted by temporary staff who are recruited for each survey round. In 1987, data collection took place in October, and in 1988, in November. In 1989 the survey will be conducted in October.
(b) Substitution of ultimate sampling units:
Non-response households (which could not be reached or where there is total non-response) are replaced by reserve addresses provided by the Civil Register of households.
11.Quality controls:
During field operations, controls are made of the sample households, with regard to household size, sex and ages, and industry. During the processing stage, the following controls are carried out: input ranges of each variable; controls for branch errors in the questionnaire; manual control of all industry and occupation codes.
12.Weighting the sample:
For the island of Curaçao, the survey results are weighted by sex and five-year age groups. For the other islands, overall weights are applied for the total population. The population counts are available from estimates supplied by the Central Bureau of Statistics, based on the 1981 Census and updated with vital registration data.
13.Sampling errors:
Not available.
14.Adjustments:
(a) Population not covered:
No adjustment is made.
(b) Under/overcoverage:
No adjustment is made.
(c) Non-response:
No adjustment is made. Weighting is based on non-response replacement.
15.Seasonal adjustment:
No adjustment is made for seasonal variations.
16.Non-sampling errors:
The main sources of bias are replies on income and informal sector activities which are under-reported.
17.History of the survey:
The first Labour Force Survey was conducted in October 1987 in the islands of Curaçao and Bonaire. In November 1988 it covered the whole country. The 1989 survey will be conducted in October and and will cover Curaçao only.
The questionnaire was completely revised for the 1988 survey and brought more into line with the international standards on statistics of the labour force.
18.Documentation:
Central Bureau of Statistics: "Economisch Profiel" (Economic Profile), bi-monthly (Willemstad). So far, only a few articles on the Labour Force Survey have appeared in this publication. The survey results are normally released within three months of the survey reference period.
Non-published results can be made available upon request, in the form of tabulations.