Definition
Employment indicator using the new unemployment definition with availability criterion starting April 2005 LFS.
EMPLOYED
Persons in the labor force who were reported either as at work (according to the definition of work) or with a job or business although not at work.
Persons at work are those who did some work, even for an hour, during the reference period.
Persons are also considered employed if they are with a job/business even though not at work during the reference period because of temporary illness/injury, vacation or other leave of absence, bad weather or strike/labor dispute or other reasons. Likewise, persons who are expected to report for work or to start operation of a farm or business enterprise within two weeks from the date of the enumerator's visit are considered employed.
The unemployed includes all persons in the labor force who are reported as:
a) Without work, i.e., had no job or business during the reference period; and
b) Currently available for work, i.e., were available and willing to take up work in paid employment or self-employment during the reference period, and/or would be available and willing to take up work in paid employment or self-employment within two weeks after the interview date; and
c) Seeking work, i.e., had taken specific steps to look for a job or establish a business during the reference period; or not seeking work due to the following reasons: (1) tired/believed no work available, i.e., the discouraged workers; 2) awaiting results of previous job application; (3) temporary illness/disability; (4) bad weather, and (5) waiting for rehire/job recall.
Not in the Labor Force are persons 15 years old and over who are neither employed nor unemployed. Those not in the labor force are those persons who are not working and are not available for work during the reference week. Also included are persons who are not available and are not looking for work because of reasons other than those previously mentioned. Examples are housewives, students, disabled and retired persons.
Recoding and Derivation:
Determination of Employment Status.The employment status of persons 15 years
and over is determined on the basis of answers to a series of inter-related
questions which are described below:
a. "Did ____ do any work at all even for only one hour during the past week?" This question is asked to identify the employed persons. "Work at all" for purposes of this survey means that a person reported to his place of work and performed his duties/activities for at least one hour during the reference week. If a person reported that he did some work, not counting chores around the house, he is still considered in the employed category although most of his time was devoted to household chores. All persons not identified by the above question as employed are asked the following questions.
b. "Although _____ did not work, did ___ have a job or business during the past
week?" Some persons may not have work at all during the past week but may
actually have jobs or businesses which they are temporarily not reporting to, as in the following cases: an employee on strike; a person temporarily laid off due to non-economic reasons like machine breakdown; a person with a new job to begin within two weeks from the date of interview; regular and temporary teachers, excluding substitutes, during summer vacation who still receive pay and who expect to go back to their jobs in the next school year. These persons are considered employed even though they are not actually at work.
c. " Did _____ look for work at any time during the past week?" This question is
asked to determine who among those who had no job/business had really done
something to look for work. If a person looked for work, he or she is classified as unemployed, otherwise, the next question asked is to determine whether a person should be classified as unemployed or not in the labor force.
d. "Why did ______ not look for work?" This question seeks to determine if the
main reason for not looking for work is valid (see definition of unemployed) in which case the person is considered unemployed.
If the answer to this question is schooling, housekeeping, too young/old or retired/permanent disability or other reasons not considered valid, then the person is excluded from the labor force.
