Interviewer instructions
Column 3: Whether stayed away from village/town 1 month or more but less than 6 months during last 365 days for employment or in search of employment: For each person, it is to be ascertained whether during last 365 days preceding the date of survey, he/she stayed away from the village/town for 1 month or more but less than 6 months for the purpose of employment or in search of employment. Code 1 is to be assigned if the reply is in the affirmative, otherwise entry will be 2. For filling in this column, the following points may be kept in mind:
(i) for the purpose of determining the period of staying away, only those periods will be considered for which the member stayed away from the household continuously for 15 days or more during the last 365 days.
(ii) a continuous period of staying away for 15 days or more from the village/ town is termed as a spell.
(iii) a period of 30 days will be considered as 1 month.
(iv) the purpose of stay away from village/town should be ‘for employment or in search of employment’ only.
A person may not be having any employment at his place of enumeration (i.e., village/town) due to either non-availability of work in the area or availability of a work which is less remunerative. If such a person had stayed in the place (s) other than his village/town in search of employment or for employment/better employment, code 1 will be applicable for him, provided the period of stay-away during the last 365 days is 30 days or more. This may also happen to persons engaged in work nominally or intermittently. For them, and particularly for casual labourers or regular wage/salaried persons, change of employer (s) will largely determine the purpose ‘for employment’. The purpose of movement of the self-employed ‘along with their enterprise’ from place to place will be considered ‘for employment’, but their movement for the purposes of procuring the raw materials, supplying goods produced, making contracts, etc., for the enterprise in which he/she is usually engaged will not be considered here. Such activities will be considered as part of the working of their enterprise. Similarly, the purpose of movement of persons visiting their own establishments located in different parts of the country will not be considered ‘for employment’. These cases will get code 2 in this column. Further, persons who move frequently as part of their ‘service contract or nature of work, such as for attending training/ workshop, etc. will not be considered and code 2 will be assigned to them. Hence, staying away of Sales/Medical Representatives and others with a job involving touring (office/job related) will not be considered.
