Sources and Methods: Labour Statistics
Volume 5: Population Censuses

China

1.Name and address of the organization responsible for the census:

State Statistical Bureau, 38 Yuetan Nanjie, Sanlihe, Beijing 100826.

2.Population censuses conducted since 1945 (years):

1953, 1964, 1982 and 1990. The present description relates to the 1990 population census (held on 1st July).

3.Coverage of the census:

(a) Geographical scope

Whole country.

(b) Persons covered

All persons of all ages.

4.Reference period:

The day and the month preceding the census day.

5.Main topics:

(a) Total population, by sex and age: yes

Economically active population by:

(b) Sex and age group: yes

(c) Industry: yes

(d) Occupation: yes

(e) Status in employment: no

(f) Highest educational level: yes

(g) Hours of work: no

(h) Other characteristics: no

Re (a): The age is defined in terms of age at last birthday.

6.Concepts and definitions:

(a) Economically active population

It comprises all persons aged 15 years and over who, during the reference month, were either employed or unemployed, according to the definitions given below. The definition includes all members of the armed forces but excludes working students with a part time job and students seeking work.

(b) Employment

Considered as employed are all persons who receive remuneration for work or receive an income from a business. The definition includes those who hold a regular job at the census reference time and those who do not have a regular job but have a temporary job on June 30th 1990 and have participated in social labour for an accumulative period of over 16 days in June.

It is reported that the following categories are included:

  1. employed persons, temporarily absent from work;
  2. seasonal or occasional workers;
  3. conscripts for military/civilian service;
  4. apprentices and trainees.
Only conscripts for military/civilian service can be enumerated separately.

(c) Unemployment

Considered as unemployed are all persons at working ages (15 to 50 for males and 15 to 45 for females), who are able to work, currently seeking jobs and who have registered at local government agencies as unemployed.

7.Classifications used:

Only employed are classified by industry and by occupation. No classification by status in employment was made.

(a) Industry

To determine industry group, employed persons were asked to state the name and specific activity of the establishment in which they worked or last worked. The name entered is an independant accounting unit of state ownership, collective ownership or jointownership, or of private entreprise. In case of large complex or large scale factory/ mine (e.g. a corporation, a large plant, etc.), the name of the subordinate unit is clearly identified. For instance, ironworks of iron and steel company, poultry/eggs department, etc. For coding industry, 13 groups of the national classification were used. Links to the ISIC-rev.2 have been established to the major division (1-digit) level.

(b) Occupation

Questions were asked of employed persons to determine the specific work performed or the work they had been engaged in. For example, industrial workers are registered as fitter, typesetter, driver, etc. Office workers may be classified as planner, statistician, secretary, etc. Persons with multiple jobs were asked to report the occupation that employed them most of the year. For coding occupation, eight groups from the national classification were used. Links to the ISCO-68 have been established to the major group (1-digit) level.

(c) Status in employment

No classification was made.

8.Main differences compared with the previous census:

Persons waiting for a job assignment were reported in the 1990 census as economically active whereas they were reported as economically inactive in the 1982 census.

Moreover, there was item on migration including residence place five years ago in the 1990 census.

9.Publication of the census results:

The final results of the population census were issued in August 1993 in the publication entitled Tabulation on the 1990 Population Census of the People's Republic of China.

The organization responsible for the publication is the State Statistical Bureau, Sanlihe, Beijing.