:

Guatemala:

1.Title of the survey:

National Socio-demographic Survey (Encuesta Nacional Socio-demográfica).

2.Organization responsible for the survey:

National Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estadística).

3.Coverage of the survey:

(a) Geographical:

The whole country.

(b) Persons covered:

All persons living in private households.

Excluded are residents in collective institutions (hotels, hospitals, orphanages, barracks, convents, etc.) and members of the armed forces.

The economically active population comprises persons aged 10 years and over.

4.Periodicity of the survey:

The first National Socio-demographic Survey took place between 21 October 1986 and 13 August 1987. The second survey began in April 1989.

5.Reference period:

For the economically active population schedule, it is the week prior to data collection; for the socio-demographic schedule, the day of the interview.

6.Topics covered:

The survey provides information on employment, unemployment, underemployment, hours of work, wages and income, employment in the informal sector, duration of unemployment, discouraged workers, industry, occupation, status in employment and level of education.

7.Concepts and definitions:

(a) Employment:

Employed persons are those aged 10 years and over who:
  1. worked for one hour or more for pay or profit, that is, as employees on daily or other rates of pay in the form of wages, salaries, commissions, payments in kind, etc., or as employers, self-employed, agricultural or professional workers;
  2. worked for one hour or more without pay in a business, workshop, farm or other family business (except housework in own household);
  3. did not work at all during the reference week, but had a job, enterprise, own business or family activity from which they were temporarily absent because of illness or accident, public holidays or vacation, strike or lock-out, temporary reduction of activity, shortage of raw materials, equipment or energy, bad weather, personal or family obligations, study leave, maternity leave, etc.

Also included are:

  1. persons laid off temporarily or for an indefinite period without pay;
  2. full- and part-time workers seeking other work during the reference week;
  3. full- and part-time students working full- or part-time;
  4. 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 benefit;
  5. paid and unpaid apprentices and trainees;
  6. paid and unpaid family workers temporarily absent from their work;
  7. private domestic servants;
  8. members of producers' co-operatives;
  9. persons doing unpaid voluntary community or social work.

Employed persons, and the economically active population, do not include persons engaged in their own housework or any members of the armed forces (who are not taken into account, since they live in collective households).

(b) Underemployment:

Underemployed persons are all persons aged 10 years and over who, during the reference week, worked for less than normal working hours (i.e. for fewer than 40 hours a week) for reasons beyond their control and who want to work longer than they normally do.

(c) Unemployment:

Unemployed persons are persons aged 10 years and over who had no occupation or work during the reference week of the survey and who were looking for work or trying to set up their own enterprise or business during the reference week, or had looked for work or tried to set up their business in the four weeks previous to that week.

Also included are:

  1. persons without employment, currently available for work, who had made arrangements to begin work at a new job on a date subsequent to the reference week (no time limit is fixed for starting the new job);
  2. full-time and part-time students looking for full-time or part-time work;
  3. participants in employment promotion schemes;
  4. seasonal workers awaiting agricultural or other kinds of seasonal work, and share croppers.

To qualify as "looking for work" persons must have consulted friends or relatives, inserted or answered advertisements, applied in person to factories, farms, public offices, etc., consulted an employment agency, etc.

Excluded from the unemployed are persons without work and currently available for work, but who did not look for work during the reference period for personal reasons such as sickness, or because they believed that it would be impossible to find work, or did not know where to look for work.

(d) Hours of work:

Questions are asked to establish the number of hours actually worked in the main occupation and in other occupations during the reference week, including all overtime. The usual number of hours worked per week is also asked.

(e) Informal sector:

Considered as employed in the informal sector are own-account workers, owners and family workers belonging to establishments comprising fewer than five persons (owners or employees in small enterprises that have no formal organisation).

(f) Usual activity:

This topic is not covered by the survey.

8.Classifications used:

Employed and unemployed persons are classified by industry, occupation and status in employment. All persons aged 7 years and over who are covered by the survey are classified by level of education.

(a) Industry:

The classification used is the International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC-1968) up to the 3-digit level.

(b) Occupation:

Since 1982 the National Classification of Occupations, updated for the 1980 census (which is based on the document containing the latest version of the Occupational Classification for the Census of America (COTA-1970), has been used. It is compatible with the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-1968) at all levels.

(c) Status in employment:

This classification comprises the following six groups:
  1. Wage earners and salaried employees in the private sector,
  2. Wage earners and salaried employees in the public sector,
  3. Own-account worker or owner without employees, with formally established premises, office, or workshop,
  4. Own-account worker or owner without employees, without formally established premises, office or workshop,
  5. Employer with employees,
  6. Unpaid family worker.

(d) Level of education/qualifications:

The level of education is classified in accordance with the last grade and level of studies successfully completed. In publications, the groups are as follows:
  1. None,
  2. Primary,
  3. Secondary,
  4. Higher.

9.Sample size and design:

(a) The sample frame:

This is the 1981 Population Census. Each census sector was updated before the survey, through up-to-date mapping of selected sectors, establishment of lists of dwellings and identification of the selected dwellings.

(b) The sample:

It is based on a two-stage sampling design, with systematic selection and probability proportional to the approximate size of dwellings according to the population census. The primary sampling units are the census sectors and the ultimate units are dwellings. The number of census sectors included in the sample was 944, distributed by regions and central urban, urban remainder, concentrated rural and dispersed rural study groups. Each sector contained on average 100 dwellings in the urban area and 150 dwellings in the rural area. The selected sector was updated by listing all the dwellings it contained. The size of the sample was 9,660 dwellings.

(c) Rotation:

Rotation was not applied.

10.Field work:

(a) Data collection:

The field work is the responsibility of a permanent survey organisation. Data are obtained by personal interview. The field work lasted 10 months, from 21 October 1986 until 13 August 1987, the data collection period (and hence the reference period of the survey) varying according to the region and being spread over several months.

(b) Substitution of ultimate sampling units:

In case of absence or total non-response, the ultimate sampling units (dwellings) are not replaced.

11.Quality controls:

The field work is checked by supervisors, and dwellings already surveyed by interviewers are reinterviewed. During data compilation, marginal checks and checks to complete questionnaires are made.

12.Weighting the sample:

The results of the survey are expanded to the level of the total population by using factors of expansion proportional to the estimated size (number of dwellings) of each census sector, taking into account the relative growth of dwellings in each sector since the 1981 Population Census, i.e. the factor of correction applicable to that census.

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:

The rate of non-response is 7 per cent. No adjustment is made.

15.Seasonal adjustment:

No adjustment is made for seasonal variations.

16.Non-sampling errors:

Not available.

17.History of the survey:

The first National Socio-demographic Survey was conducted between 21 October 1986 and 13 August 1987.

The second National Socio-demographic Survey began in April 1989, and in addition to the previous variables used in the first survey, inquiries were made on variables relating to the seasonal character of rural employment.

The predecessor of the National Socio-demographic Survey is the National Family Income and Expenditure Survey (Encuesta Nacional de Ingresos y Gastos Familiares) which was carried out only once, from November 1979 to August 1981, using different topics of study, concepts and definitions, and sampling design. For example, as regards concepts, unpaid family workers had to have worked at least 15 hours during the reference week to qualify for inclusion as employed persons. The sample was based on a stratified multi-stage design, the strata being high, medium and low levels of income, and the regions of the country.

18.Documentation:

For the results of the 1986/87 survey, see:

Instituto Nacional de Estadística: "Encuesta Nacional Socio-Demográfica 1986/1987" (Guatemala City, 1988). This non-recurrent publication comprises three volumes: Vol. I - Demography, Whole Republic; Vol. II - Employment, Whole Republic; and Vol. III - Regional Data in fascicules numbered 1 to 8.

The results of the survey and unpublished results are also available, upon request, in the form of tables, diskettes, etc.