Labor Market Panel Survey, 2006

Questionnaire design was finalized by the ERF team prior to the conclusion of the agreement between CAPMAS and ERF.
The household-level research instruments comprise of three interrelated questionnaires for each household. The household questionnaire collects data on the different demographic characteristics of household members, household assets and access to services. This questionnaire also includes a module that tracks individuals who were part of the 1998 sample. The questionnaire allows space for 20 individuals as members of the household and for 10 splits. The individual questionnaire includes modules on the education and work characteristics for individuals six years and up. The printed version allows space for only five individuals, but more than one individual questionnaire can be used for a household depending on its size.
The third questionnaire in the household-level research instrument is the “Migration, Family Enterprises and Non-wage Income” questionnaire, which includes the modules on migration, remittances, non-work-related income sources, and non-agricultural household enterprises.
Additions and changes to the 1998 Questionnaire
New sections were added to the 1998 questionnaires and a number of questions were deleted because they did not produce useful results after the analysis. The following are the major changes to the 1998 questionnaire:

1. The panel design mandated a number of changes, including the addition of a new section, Section 0.2, which gathered information on the basic characteristics of members who lived in household in1998 but no longer live in household in 2006 and their new addresses to track them. The cover page also included a question regarding the type of the household (whether it is originally visited in 1998, is a split household, or from the new sample). Section 0.1, the household roster, also included an additional question (0105), which inquires about the individual’s person number (pn) in the 1998 data set. Data collectors were able to get this information from the data sheets that were printed for each household containing basic demographic characteristics and a summary of her/his work and education characteristics.
2. Questions about land ownership and cultivation were added in section 0.3. Although they do not quite fit under housing and services, this was the best place to include them. Instructions during training were to write zero if no land was owned or rented by household.
3. The section on durable goods, section 0.4, now includes questions on whether the item was bought at the time of marriage and whether an item is bought to be used by a household member after she/he marries.
4. A short section on siblings (section 1.3) was added, which refers to total number of siblings, and whether or not they reside in the same household.
5. The section on education is expanded significantly. It now includes questions about the characteristics of secondary, preparatory, and primary schools, where relevant. Questions about repetitions and interruptions of schooling are included in order to gain better understanding of the number of years of schooling as opposed to grade level achieved and age of exit/completion. The section also allows one to assign a unique code for each school attended by the individual. These unique codes were received from the Ministry of Education and allow for analysis on school characteristics based on further data from the Ministry.
6. The migration section was moved earlier in the questionnaire so that it applies to all individuals whether they worked or not. In 1998, this section only applied to those who had previously worked. The section now applies to all those aged 15 and above. It also includes a new question about place of birth.
7. In the sections on work characteristics, we no longer have a reference week and a reference three months. We used instead the past seven days (counting back from day of first interview with individual) and the past three months.
8. In the unemployment section (Section 4.2), we added questions about the use of a landline or cell phones in job search activities. We also separated the question on registering with a government agency from the job search question. Now all the
   activities listed under job search are limited to the past three months reference period.
9. We separated the questions on subsistence and domestic work in a new section. These questions now apply to all children aged 6-17 and all women aged18-64, irrespective of employment status. The questions on domestic work are now
   much more detailed than before and ask about time spent on various domestic chores during the past 7 days. If the same amount of time is spent everyday, then interviewers were instructed to multiply the daily times by seven. However, this is designed to allow for variations in schedules every day. One of the reasons this section now applies to the past week rather than a reference week was that that it might be difficult to get an accurate estimate due to recall problems. Only the last question of the section allows for the activity to be done concurrently with other activities (child care). Otherwise, interviewers were instructed that they are enquiring about the time spent exclusively on the activity in question.
10. Questions about the “first job” were added into the section detecting employment in the forgoing three months. As in the job mobility section, to qualify as a job, the individual must have spent at least 6 months at the job. Thus, a job during summer vacation is considered a job in the current employment section, but does not qualify as a first job or as a job in the mobility section. Similarly, an individual could have worked in the reference 3 months (on summer jobs) but have no first job, because that job lasted less than six months. The same criterion of six months applies to the job mobility section to prevent listing of back and forth mobility between school and work for students who work only during the summer.
11. Chapter 7 contains two entirely new sections, one on fertility and one on the cost of marriage. Sections 7.1 and 7.2 apply to all ever-married women.
12. In the earnings chapter, the section on second main job was dropped. The instructions specify that if the main job has changed during the past three months, earnings should be collected in this section for all main jobs combined, not just the last one. This should not be a problem since very few people actually change their main job in a given three month period. The same applies for the earnings of the secondary job. If an individual has changed their secondary job during the past three months, earnings should be collected for all the secondary jobs combined in the three months period.
13. The household enterprises questionnaire now applies to all individuals, irrespective of whether they have enterprises or not. While these questions are better placed at the household questionnaire, we believe that having these questions early at the interview might scare people off. The household enterprise questionnaire comes towards the end of the interview and was therefore an ideal place for these questions. Household enterprise questions are divided into four sections: one section on non-agricultural enterprises and three short sections on agricultural enterprises.