Brazil

Title of the survey:

Monthly Employment Survey (Pesquisa Mensal de Emprego).

Organization responsible for the survey:

Planning and conduct of the survey:

Brazilian of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

Analysis and publication of the results:

IBGE.

Topics covered:

Employment, unemployment, hours of work, wages, income, duration of unemployment, industry, occupation, status in employment, educational level, second jobs.

Coverage of the survey:

Geographical:

Since its introduction in 1980 it has covered the metropolitan regions of Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre. The metropolitan region of Curitiba was added in March 1999.

Population groups:

All persons aged 10 years and over living in the selected households on the interview date. Excluded are persons living in embassies, consulates and institutions abroad and persons living in communal accommodation such as armed forces personnel in barracks or military installations, inmates in prisons, correctional institutions, etc., school boarders, hospital in-patients and residents in nursing homes, orphanages, etc., members of religious orders in convents, monasteries, etc.

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

Yes.

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

Employment indicators exclude persons aged between 10 and 14 years.

Periodicity:

Conduct of the survey:

Monthly.

Publication of results:

Monthly.

Reference periods:

Employment:

One week (moving).

Seeking work:

One week (moving).

Availability for work:

One week (moving).

Concepts and definitions:

Employment:

Persons who performed work for payment in cash, produce or goods or profit and persons who performed work without pay for at least 15 hours during the week, whether helping a household member in his or her economic activity or assisting a religious, charitable or cooperative institution, or as apprentices. Included are all persons who worked during all or part of the reference week and persons who were not at work during the reference week owing to vacation, leave, strike, etc.

Unemployment:

Persons who were without work, were available for work and had taken specific steps to seek work during the reference week.

Underemployment:

Time-related underemployment:

No information.

Inadequate employment situations:

No information.

Hours of work:

Details are obtained of actual hours worked during the reference week in the main job and separately in other jobs in that week. Full hours are recorded, thirty minutes or more being counted as a full hour, any periods of less than thirty minutes being disregarded.

Employment-related income:

Income from paid employment:

Information is obtained on actual income in cash, or produce or goods in the farming sector, received during the reference month in the main job and separately in all other jobs in the reference week. Amounts are recorded in reals, ignoring centavos. In the case of paid employees, details are obtained of actual gross pay received during the reference month, including the 13th and 14th wage, and other amounts in addition to pay or other employment earnings, such as allowances, bonuses, tips, profit sharing, etc. For employees receiving benefits from federal, state or municipal social security institutes, actual gross income from benefits received during the reference month (sickness benefit, workers’ compensation, etc.) is ascertained. For employees receiving produce or goods, the market value of actual produce or goods received during the reference month is ascertained.

Income from self-employment:

In the case of own-account workers or employers, details are obtained of actual net earnings or revenues received during the reference month, i.e. gross income less business operating costs such as employees’ wages, raw materials, electricity, telephone charges, etc. For own account-workers or employers receiving benefits from federal, state or municipal social security institutes, actual gross income from benefits received during the reference month (sickness benefit, workers’ compensation, etc.) is ascertained. For own-account workers or employers receiving produce or goods, the market value of actual produce or goods received during the reference month is ascertained.

Informal sector:

No information.

Usual activity:

No information.

Classifications:

Branch of economic activity (industry):

Title of the classification:

No information.

Population groups classified by industry:

Employed persons are classified according to the industry of their main job.

Number of groups used for coding:

169 for coding; 5 for dissemination.

Links to ISIC:

ISIC Rev.2.

Occupation:

Title of the classification:

No information.

Population groups classified by occupation:

Employed persons are classified according to the occupation of their main job; unemployed persons and inactive persons who looked for work during the last 23 days are classified according to their last paid job.

Number of groups used for coding:

381.

Links to ISCO:

ISCO-1968.

Status in employment:

Title of the classification:

No information.

Population groups classified by status in employment:

Employed persons are classified according to the employment status of their main job; unemployed persons and inactive persons who looked for work during the last 23 days are classified according to their last paid job.

Groups used for classification:

Employer, own-account worker, employee and unpaid worker.

Links to ICSE:

ICSE-1993.

Education:

Title of the classification:

No information.

Population groups classified by education:

Employed persons.

Groups used for classification:

No schooling; first to third year of elementary or equivalent education completed; fourth to seventh year of elementary or equivalent education completed; elementary or equivalent education completed; incomplete secondary or equivalent education; secondary or equivalent education completed; incomplete higher education; higher education completed.

Links to ISCED:

No.

Sample size and design:

Ultimate sampling unit:

Private dwelling or residential unit within communal accommodation.

Sample size (ultimate sampling units):

5,120 in the metropolitan region of Recife.

Overall sampling fraction:

1/430 for the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro; 1/6,000 for the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo; 1/170 for the metropolitan regions of Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba and Porto Alegre.

Sample frame:

Geographical frame and size measurements for sample selection based on the 1991 Population Census.

Updating of the sample:

It is updated at annual intervals by means of an operation in which all the sectors (subdivisions of municipalities for statistical purposes) selected in the sample are listed. This listing operation consists of the systematic recording of all residential and non-residential units existing in the area. In addition to the updating of the basic frame, a supplementary frame has been established in respect of new buildings, comprising clusters (such as residential complexes, blocks and favelas) containing at least 30 dwellings and constructed after the Population Census in those sectors (selected or otherwise) of municipalities contained in the sample, which is used for the purpose of evaluating their growth. This new buildings frame is also updated annually.

Rotation:

Scheme:

One quarter of the dwellings selected in the sample are replaced each month. One unit remains in the sample for four consecutive months, drops out of the sample for the next eight months and returns for four final months. Operationally, the sectors are randomly distributed in four groups corresponding to each of the weeks of the month. In each sector, several subsamples systematically drop out. Four weeks of interviews are fixed and in each of them one quarter of the sample for the month is interviewed. Under the scheme, 75 per cent of the dwellings selected for the sample for one month are the same as those for the previous month, and in the same month of two successive years there is alternately 100 per cent concordance of the units selected in the sample or no concordance. In no month is the sample totally new.

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

75 per cent.

Maximum number of interviews per sample unit:

Eight months.

Length of time for complete renewal of the sample:

One year and four months.

Field work:

Type of interview:

Personal pen-and-paper interviews.

Number of ultimate sampling units per sample area:

Each month, the sample for all seven metropolitan regions covered by the survey comprises 45,267 dwellings.

Duration of field work:

Total:

Four weeks.

Per sample area:

No information.

Survey organization:

Permanent staff.

Number of field staff:

408 persons.

Substitution of non-responding ultimate sampling units:

No.

Estimation and adjustments:

Total non-response rate:

2.5 per cent.

Adjustment for total non-response:

The hot-deck imputation method is used for non-response, except with regard to income variables, for which no imputation is performed.

Imputation for item non-response:

No.

Adjustment for areas/population not covered:

No.

Adjustment for undercoverage:

No.

Adjustment for overcoverage:

No.

Adjustment for seasonal variations:

Unemployment rates are adjusted for seasonal variations by the application of moving averages using an interactive method implemented with X-12 ARIMA.

History of the survey:

Title and date of the first survey:

The Monthly Employment Survey (PME) began in January 1980 with the aim of producing monthly labour force indicators in order to evaluate medium-term and long-term trends and fluctuations in the employment market in the new metropolitan regions existing at the time (Belén, Fortaleza, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Curitiba and Porto Alegre) and in the Federal District.

Significant changes or revisions:

No information.

Documentation and dissemination:

Documentation:

Survey results:

No information.

Survey methodology:

No information.

Dissemination:

Time needed for initial release of survey results:

No information.

Advance information of public about date of initial release:

No information.

Availability of unpublished data upon request:

No information.

Availability of data in machine-readable form:

Website:

http://www.ibge.gov.br/.