Qatar

Title of the survey:

Labour force sample survey, April 2001.

Organization responsible for the survey:

Planning and conduct of the survey:

Department of Statistics, Planning Council

Analysis and publication of the results:

Department of Statistics, and Department of Social Planning, Planning Council.

Topics covered:

Current employment and unemployment status of the working age Qatari and non-Qatari population. Earnings, hours and pattern of work of the employed population. Educational level, current or last occupation, branch of economic activity, status in employment, sector of employment, and duration of job tenure of the currently employed and the unemployed with past work experience. Duration and methods of job search currently used by the unemployed to seek work, and previously used by the employed to obtain their current jobs. Participation in training programmes and reason for not seeking work in the private and mixed sectors by the Qatari unemployed. Reason for economic inactivity of the population not currently in the labour force.

Coverage of the survey:

Geographical:

Entire nation.

Population groups:

All resident Qatari and non-Qatari persons living in non-institutional households. Also included are non-Qatari persons living in compounds and collective households.

Availability of estimates from other sources for the excluded areas/groups:

NA.

Groups covered by the survey but excluded from the published results:

Labour force measurement addresses population 12 years old and over, but due to the insignificant size of the reported labour force between the ages of 12 and 14, the published results are limited to the population 15 years old and over. Data on the omitted youth population are however available.

Periodicity:

Conduct of the survey:

Occasional

Publication of results:

Not yet published.

Reference periods:

Employment:

Fixed reference week. From 24 to 30 March 2001.

Seeking work:

Active job search of the unemployed during previous month. The information is, however, not used for classification of the respondent as unemployed.

Availability for work:

Availability for work is not explicitly tested in the questionnaire.

Concepts and definitions:

Employment:

Persons, 12 years old and over, who were engaged in any work, at least for one hour on any day during the survey week, or had a formal job attachment but were temporarily absent from work, with or without leave, for any reason during the survey week. Work is defined broadly in terms of work for pay, profit or family gain.

Unemployment:

Persons, 12 years old and over, who did not work even for one hour during the survey week, nor were temporary absence from work with a formal job attachment, and who reported to not find a job during the survey week.

Underemployment:

Time-related underemployment:

Not explicitly defined, but timerelated underemployment may be derived on the basis of two questions: Employed persons who worked less than 6 days during the survey week because of lack of job opportunities in the other days of the week.

Inadequate employment situations:

Not applicable.

Hours of work:

Three concepts: Number of days actually worked during the survey week. Number of actual hours worked during the survey week including overtime. Normal weekly hours of work. Actual hours worked covers total hours spent at work including overtime, time spent for maintenance, waiting time, and short break periods. It excludes hours paid but not worked, mealtime, and commuting time.

Employment-related income:

Income from paid employment:

Total earnings of employees during the last payment period. The payment period may be daily, weekly, or monthly. Earning is defined as gross total take-home pay, including basic salaries overtime pay, bonuses, special compensation in relation to nature of work, housing allowances, family allowances, transportation cost, food, and other in-kind subsidies.

Income from self-employment:

Not applicable.

Informal sector:

No information.

Usual activity:

No information.

Classifications:

Branch of economic activity (industry):

Title of the classification:

The National Standard Classification of Economic Activities (May 1996).

Population groups classified by industry:

Employed and unemployed persons with previous work experience.

Number of groups used for coding:

4-digit level. Results published at the 1-digit level.18 categories.

Links to ISIC:

ISIC-Rev.3.

Occupation:

Title of the classification:

The Standard Classification of Occupations (May 1996).

Population groups classified by occupation:

Employed and unemployed persons with previous work experience.

Number of groups used for coding:

4-digit level, and the results are to be published at the 1-digit level.

Links to ISCO:

ISCO-88.

Status in employment:

Title of the classification:

No information.

Population groups classified by status in employment:

Employed persons only.

Groups used for classification:

Employer. Own-account worker. Employee. Unpaid family worker. Other.

Links to ICSE:

ICSE-1966.

Education:

Title of the classification:

No information.

Population groups classified by education:

Population 10 years old and above.

Groups used for classification:

Coding at the 5-digit level, and the results to be published at the 1-digit level for educational level. Also, 5-digit details on specialization for the population with secondary education or higher.

Links to ISCED:

ISCED 1977.

Sample size and design:

Ultimate sampling unit:

Households.

Sample size (ultimate sampling units):

1,956 Qatari households, 1,892 Non-Qatari households and 4,287 Collective households.

Overall sampling fraction:

5%.

Sample frame:

Enumeration areas of the 1997 Population and housing census 1997. Two-stage sampling. Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) are formed by grouping contiguous census blocks (enumeration areas) such that each PSU contains at least 25 Ultimate Sampling Units (households in the case of Qatari and Non-Qatari households, and individuals in the case of collective households). In order to respect to the extent possible the administrative structure of Qatar, the number of PSUs that cut across administrative zones is minimized and those cutting municipality boundaries are avoided altogether. For practical purposes, very large PSUs of the collective households strata were divided into parts.

The PSUs are sampled in proportion to their size, measured in terms of number households in the case of the first two strata and in terms of individual persons in the case of the third strata. The size measures are determined according to the 1997 census In the second stage, 20 households are selected in each sample PSU. In the case of collective households: primary sampling units are urban or rural sample PSU.

At the second stage, in each PSU a sample of 20 households are selected in the two strata of Qatari and Non-Qatari households, according to a systematic sampling scheme. In the case of the Collective households, 50 persons were systematically selected in each listing of the sampled PSUs.

Updating of the sample:

Updating at listing stage of the sampled PSUs.

Rotation:

Scheme:

None.

Percentage of units remaining in the sample for two consecutive survey rounds:

Not applicable.

Maximum number of interviews per sample unit:

Not applicable.

Length of time for complete renewal of the sample:

Not applicable.

Field work:

Type of interview:

Personal interview.

Number of ultimate sampling units per sample area:

About 20 households in the case of Qatari and Non-Qatari households, and 50 individuals in the case of Collective households.

Duration of field work:

Total:

Listing of PSUs during February 2001. Interviewing during April 2001.

Per sample area:

3 to 4 households per day in the case of Qatari and Non-Qatari households, and about 20 to 24 persons per day in the case of Collective households.

Survey organization:

Ad-hoc.

Number of field staff:

About 64 interviewers and 15 supervisors.

Substitution of non-responding ultimate sampling units:

No.

Estimation and adjustments:

Total non-response rate:

3.6% in Qatari households and 1.3% in Non-Qatari households.

Adjustment for total non-response:

Yes, by inverse of rate of response within strata.

Imputation for item non-response:

Yes, Group means.

Adjustment for areas/population not covered:

No.

Adjustment for undercoverage:

Yes, by ratio-estimation to projected populations of Qataris and Non-Qataris. Also, by Generalized Least Squares to sex and age distribution of 1997 Census results for Qatari population.

Adjustment for overcoverage:

Not available.

Adjustment for seasonal variations:

No.

History of the survey:

Title and date of the first survey:

Labour force sample survey, 1993.

Significant changes or revisions:

The 2001 Qatar labour force survey follows a series of limited household surveys conducted in 1984, 1989 and 1993. The 1984 and 1989 surveys were household income and expenditure surveys with limited information on the employment characteristics of the population. The 1993 survey was a labour force survey, but the results were not published.