West Bank and Gaza strip
Title of the survey:
Labour Force Survey.
Organization responsible for the survey:
Planning and conduct of the survey:
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
Analysis and publication of the results:
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
Topics covered:
Employment, unemployment, underemployment, hours of work, wages, duration of employment and unemployment, discouraged workers, industry, occupation, status in employment, education, second jobs, outside the labor force, monthly working days.
Coverage of the survey:
Geographical:
Whole territory.
Population groups:
All persons aged 10 years and over, excluding persons living in institutions and those residing abroad for more than one year.
Availability of estimates from other sources for the excluded areas/groups:
No information.
Groups covered by the survey but excluded from the published results:
Persons aged 10 to 14 years.
Periodicity:
Conduct of the survey:
Continuous survey.
Publication of results:
Quarterly and annual.
Reference periods:
Employment:
Moving reference week. The week ending on the Friday preceding the interviewer’s visit to the household.
Seeking work:
Moving reference week. The week ending on the Friday preceding the interviewer’s visit to the household.
Availability for work:
Moving reference week. The week ending on the Friday preceding the interviewer’s visit to the household.
Concepts and definitions:
Employment:
Persons aged 15 years old and over who worked at least one hour during the reference period, or who were not at work during the reference week, but held a job or owned a business from which they were temporarily absent (because of illness, vacation, temporary stoppage,maternity, parental or educational/training leave, or any other reason).
Are also considered as employed:
- persons on temporary lay-off without pay;
- full or part-time workers seeking other work during the reference week;
- full or part-time students working part or full-time;
- paid and unpaid apprentices and trainees;
- unpaid family workers (at work or temporarily absent from work during the reference week);
- members of the armed forces (volunteers, career members and conscripts).
Unemployment:
Persons aged 15 years and over, who did not work during the reference week, who were not absent from a job and were available for work and actively seeking a job during the reference week. Seeking work is defined as having taken specific steps, during the reference week, to find paid employment or self-employment. Job seekers are classified into:
i) available for work: a person ready to work if he/she is offered any job, and there is no reason preventing him/her from accepting such a job although he/she did nothing to obtain one; ii) actively seeking work: a person who is willing to work and is actively seeking work trough reading newspapers advertisements, asking friends, registration at the labour exchange offices, or asking employers.
Are also considered as unemployed:
- persons who work in Israel and were absent from work due to closures;
- persons on indefinite lay-off without pay or on unpaid leave initiated by the employer;
- persons without work and currently available for work who had made arrangements to start a new job on a date subsequent to the reference week or who were trying to establish their own enterprise;
- full or part-time students, available for work, seeking full or part-time work.
Underemployment:
Time-related underemployment:
Persons who worked less than 35 hours during the reference week or worked less than the normal hours of work in their occupation.
Inadequate employment situations:
Misapplication of labour resources or fundamental imbalance as between labour and other factors, such as insufficient income, underutilization, bad conditions of the current work, or other economic reasons.
Hours of work:
Total number of hours actually worked during the reference week as well as overtime and time spent at the place of work on activities such as preparation of the workplace. Leaves, meal breaks and time spent on travel from home to work and vice versa are excluded from worked hours.
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 based on ISIC-Rev.3.
Population groups classified by industry:
Employed and unemployed persons with previous work experience during the last 12 months.
Number of groups used for coding:
4-digit level.
Links to ISIC:
ISIC-Rev.3.
Occupation:
Title of the classification:
National classification based on ISCO-88.
Population groups classified by occupation:
Employed and unemployed persons with previous work experience during the last 12 months.
Number of groups used for coding:
3-digit level.
Links to ISCO:
ISCO-88.
Status in employment:
Title of the classification:
National classification.
Population groups classified by status in employment:
Employed and unemployed persons with work experience during the last 12 months.
Groups used for classification:
Employers, employees, self-employed persons, unpaid family workers, others.
Links to ICSE:
ICSE-1993.
Education:
Title of the classification:
National classification.
Population groups classified by education:
All persons aged 10 years and above.
Groups used for classification:
Illiterate; can read and write; elementary education; preparatory education; secondary education; associate diploma; BA/BS; higher diploma; master degree; Ph. D.
Links to ISCED:
ISCED-76.
Sample size and design:
Ultimate sampling unit:
Households.
Sample size (ultimate sampling units):
About 7,600 households covering approximately 22,000 persons of working age.
Overall sampling fraction:
1.7%.
Sample frame:
Master Sample based on the 1997 Housing and Establishments Census. The survey is based on a two-stage stratified cluster random sample.
Updating of the sample:
December 1999, on the basis of households listings.
Rotation:
Scheme:
Households are retained in the sample for two consecutive rounds, then leaves the sample in the next two rounds, and returns in the sample for two more consecutive rounds before leaving the sample.
Percentage of units remaining in the sample for two consecutive survey rounds:
50%.
Maximum number of interviews per sample unit:
4.
Length of time for complete renewal of the sample:
5 years.
Field work:
Type of interview:
Personal interview with paper and pencil recording.
Number of ultimate sampling units per sample area:
16 households.
Duration of field work:
Total:
3 months (continuous field work).
Per sample area:
Two days.
Survey organization:
Permanent.
Number of field staff:
12 interviewers, 4 supervisors, 2 coders, 2 editors and 1 coordinator.
Substitution of non-responding ultimate sampling units:
No.
Estimation and adjustments:
Total non-response rate:
9%.
Adjustment for total non-response:
Yes.
Imputation for item non-response:
No.
Adjustment for areas/population not covered:
Not applicable.
Adjustment for undercoverage:
Yes.
Adjustment for overcoverage:
Yes.
Adjustment for seasonal variations:
No.
History of the survey:
Title and date of the first survey:
Labor Force Survey 1995.
Significant changes or revisions:
Not applicable.
Documentation and dissemination:
Documentation:
Survey results:
Labour Force Survey: Main Findings (quarterly); Labour Force Survey: Annual Report.
Survey methodology:
Same as above.
Dissemination:
Time needed for initial release of survey results:
About 2 months.
Advance information of public about date of initial release:
Yes.
Availability of unpublished data upon request:
Yes.
Availability of data in machine-readable form:
Tabulated data available in machine readable format on request.
Website:
http://www.pcbs.org/.