Japan
Title of the survey:
Labour Force Survey.
Organization responsible for the survey:
Planning and conduct of the survey:
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications.
Analysis and publication of the results:
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications.
Topics covered:
Employment, unemployment, hours of work, wages, duration of unemployment, discouraged workers, industry, occupation, status in employment, education/qualification levels.
Coverage of the survey:
Geographical:
Whole country, excluding the Northern Territories.
Population groups:
All Japanese and foreigners aged 15 years and over who have lived (or will be living) in the country for more than three months, excluding foreign diplomatic corps, foreign military personnel and those who accompany them. The self-defense forces and inmates of reformatory institutions are separately enumerated and included in the results.
Persons who are temporarily absent from their household for traveling, working elsewhere or being hospitalized, are reported at their homes if the period of absence is less than three months. If they have been absent or are going to be absent from home for three months or more, they are enumerated at their destination.
Availability of estimates from other sources for the excluded areas/groups:
No information provided.
Groups covered by the survey but excluded from the published results:
No information provided.
Periodicity:
Conduct of the survey:
Monthly.
Publication of results:
Monthly and quarterly for the “Detailed Results” (previously the “Special Survey”).
Reference periods:
Employment:
One fixed week.
Seeking work:
One fixed week, including for persons who were waiting for the results of past job search activity.
Availability for work:
One fixed day.
Concepts and definitions:
Employment:
The employed are:
1) “Employed persons at work”, i.e. persons who worked for pay or profit for at least one hour during the reference week. Family workers
who worked for at least one hour during the reference week are also included in this category.
2) “Employed persons with a job, but not at work, i.e. persons who had their job but did not work at all during the reference week. Included are:
1) full- and part-time workers seeking other work during the reference week;
2) full- and part-time workers working full-or part-time;
3) persons who have performed some work for pay and profit during the reference week, while being retired and receiving a pension, or registered as jobseekers at an employment office; 4) paid and unpaid apprentices and trainees; 5) participants in employment promotion schemes; 6) paid and unpaid family workers, provided the latter are not absent from work during the reference week; 7) private domestic servants;
8) self-defence forces;
9) persons with a job but temporarily absent due to illness/injury, vacation/annual leave, maternity/paternity leave, education leave, absence without leave, bad weather or mechanical breakdown, labour-management dispute or other reduction in economic activity; 10) persons on temporary release from work (since they are not discharged and usually receive wage and salary). (Japan has no actual system of lay-off).
To be considered as employed when absent from work, employees must have received or expect to receive wage or salary, and self-employed workers’ period of absence must not exceed 30 days. Excluded from the employed and considered as out of the labour force are persons engaged in own housework and persons doing unpaid community or social work.
Unemployment:
Unemployed are persons who did not work at all during the reference week, but were available for work and ready to take a job immediately, and were actively seeking a job or were waiting for the results of the past job search activity. “Actively seeking a job” means having taken any of the following steps during the reference week: registered at an employment agency; placed or answered advertisements; applied for an examination; contacted friend or relatives; checked at work sites; preparing to start a business by procuring funds and materials, etc. Included are full- and part-time students seeking full- and part-time work.
Unpaid family workers who were temporarily absent from work during the reference week are out of the labour force, unless they satisfy the above conditions.
Seasonal workers awaiting agricultural or other seasonal work are excluded from the unemployed and considered as out of the labour force.
Underemployment:
Time-related underemployment:
Not covered by the survey.
Inadequate employment situations:
Not covered by the survey.
Hours of work:
"Hours worked during the survey week" refers to the actual number of hours worked, which include overtime and exclude hours spent for housework, voluntary work without pay, meal breaks, commuting, etc. If a person worked in more than one job during the survey week, all the hours of work for each job are summed up.
Employment-related income:
Income from paid employment:
Not covered by the survey.
Income from self-employment:
Not covered by the survey.
Informal sector:
Not covered by the survey.
Usual activity:
Not covered by the survey.
Classifications:
Branch of economic activity (industry):
Title of the classification:
National classification.
Population groups classified by industry:
Employed and unemployed persons (industry of last job for the unemployed).
Number of groups used for coding:
30 groups.
Links to ISIC:
ISIC-Rev.2 at the 3rd digit level (major groups).
Occupation:
Title of the classification:
National classification.
Population groups classified by occupation:
Employed and unemployed persons (occupation of last job for the unemployed).
Number of groups used for coding:
15 groups.
Links to ISCO:
ISCO-68 at the 1st digit level (major groups).
Status in employment:
Title of the classification:
National classification.
Population groups classified by status in employment:
Employed and unemployed persons. Unemployed persons are classified according their last job, if any, only in “Detailed Results”.
Groups used for classification:
4 groups; employees (regular employees, temporary employees and daily employees), self-employed workers, family workers and pieceworkers at home.
Links to ICSE:
ICSE-1993.
Education:
Title of the classification:
National classification.
Population groups classified by education:
Employed and unemployed persons.
Groups used for classification:
Only in the "Detailed Results". All persons are classified by "school attendance" as of the survey date, into: attending school, graduated from school and never attending school. The "attending school" and "graduated from school" are further classified according to the level of education complete such as, primary school or junior school, senior school, junior school, college or university, including graduate school.
Links to ISCED:
ISCED-1976.
Sample size and design:
Ultimate sampling unit:
Dwelling.
Sample size (ultimate sampling units):
About 2,900 enumeration districts (EDs) comprising 40,000 dwellings.
Overall sampling fraction:
No information provided.
Sample frame:
The quinquennial Population Census. The current sample is built up and updated on the basis of the 1995 Population Census.
Updating of the sample:
Every year, a list of newly developed collective housing districts are prepared by the Prefectural Government to be added to the EDs.
Rotation:
Scheme:
A sample of EDs remain in the sample for four consecutive months, leave the sample for the following eight months, and joins the sample again for the same four months in the following year.
For each ED, two sets of dwelling units are selected. In the first year of enumeration of a sample ED, the households in the sample dwellings units in the first set are surveyed for the first two consecutive moths, and then replaced by the households in the dwelling units of the other set. In the second year, the dwelling units of the first set enter the sample again and are replaced by those of the other set in the same way as in the first year.
Under this system, 1/4 of the sample EDs and half of the sample households are replaced every month. Three fourths of the sample Eds are common from month to month and half of them from year to year.
Percentage of units remaining in the sample for two consecutive survey rounds:
50 %.
Maximum number of interviews per sample unit:
Four.
Length of time for complete renewal of the sample:
16 months.
Field work:
Type of interview:
Paper and pencil.
Number of ultimate sampling units per sample area:
No information provided.
Duration of field work:
Total:
13 days.
Per sample area:
No information provided.
Survey organization:
Permanent survey organization (Statistical Divisions of Prefectural Governments). Enumerators are temporarily recruited for each round.
Number of field staff:
About 3,180 persons.
Substitution of non-responding ultimate sampling units:
No.
Estimation and adjustments:
Total non-response rate:
No.
Adjustment for total non-response:
No.
Imputation for item non-response:
No.
Adjustment for areas/population not covered:
No.
Adjustment for undercoverage:
No.
Adjustment for overcoverage:
No.
Adjustment for seasonal variations:
Yes. US Census Methods II (X-11).
History of the survey:
Title and date of the first survey:
Labour Force Survey July 1947.
Significant changes or revisions:
In year 1953.
Documentation and dissemination:
Documentation:
Survey results:
Monthly Report on the Labour Force Survey; Annual Report on the Labour Force Survey (March of each year)
Survey methodology:
No information provided.
Dissemination:
Time needed for initial release of survey results:
One month.
Advance information of public about date of initial release:
Yes.
Availability of unpublished data upon request:
Yes.
Availability of data in machine-readable form:
Internet.
Website:
http://www.stat.go.jp/.