Iran, Islamic Rep. of

Title of the survey:

Survey of household employment and unemployment characteristics

Organization responsible for the survey:

Planning and conduct of the survey:

Statistical Centre of Iran, Ministry of Planning.

Analysis and publication of the results:

Statistical Centre of Iran, Ministry of Planning.

Topics covered:

Employment, unemployment, hours of work, duration of employment, duration of unemployment, occasional workers, industry, occupation, status in employment, education level, and secondary jobs.

Coverage of the survey:

Geographical:

All urban and rural areas of the country.

Population groups:

All civilian population, excluding persons living in unsettled households and institutional households. Also excluded are guests and visitors and persons living abroad, for example, for work or education.

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

The survey results are limited to the population covered by the survey. When necessary, separate estimates are for the excluded population and these are added to the results of the survey.

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

Periodicity:

Conduct of the survey:

Annual.

Publication of results:

Annual.

Reference periods:

Employment:

Fixed reference week.

Seeking work:

Fixed reference week.

Availability for work:

Reference week.

Concepts and definitions:

Employment:

Persons, 10 years old and over, in regular settled households, who were engaged in a job at least for 2 days during the past seven days preceding the survey interview.

It includes:

  1. Persons with a job but temporary absent for any reason, and persons on temporary lay-off without pay.
  2. Full or part-time workers seeking other work during the reference period.
  3. Persons who performed some work for pay or profit during the reference week but were subject to compulsory schooling, retired and receiving a pension, or unemployment benefits, or were registered as jobseekers at an employment office or were seeking other work during the reference week.
  4. Full or part-time students working full or part-time.
  5. Paid apprentices and trainees, and participants in employment promotion schemes.
  6. Unpaid family workers at work or temporary absent from work.
  7. Seasonal workers not at work during the off-season.
  8. Members of the armed forces, including volunteers and career officers, conscripts and persons engaged in civilian service equivalent to military service.
Excluded are:
  1. Unpaid apprentices and trainees.
  2. Persons engaged in production of goods or services for own final use.
  3. Persons doing volunteer community or social service work.
  4. Persons with a job but absent without leave.

Unemployment:

Persons, 10 years old and over, in regular settled households, who were not engaged in a job at least for 2 days and were seeking work during the last seven days preceding the survey interview.

It includes:

  1. Persons on indefinite lay-off without pay or on unpaid leave initiated by the employer.
  2. Persons without work and current available and looking for work who had made arrangements to start a new job on a date subsequent to the reference week.
  3. Persons without work and currently available and looking for work who were trying to establish their own enterprise.
  4. Full or part-time students seeking full or part-time work. e) Persons who were seeking or available for work but were subject to compulsory schooling or retired and receiving a pension. Excluded are persons without work but not seeking work during the reference period.

Underemployment:

Time-related underemployment:

No information.

Inadequate employment situations:

No information.

Hours of work:

The total number of regular work hours and overtime work relating to the main job and other jobs of the employed.

Employment-related income:

Income from paid employment:

No information.

Income from self-employment:

No information.

Informal sector:

No information.

Usual activity:

No information.

Classifications:

Branch of economic activity (industry):

Title of the classification:

Not known.

Population groups classified by industry:

Employed and unemployed persons with previous work experience.

Number of groups used for coding:

4-digit codes, but published at alphabetical and 1-digit code.

Links to ISIC:

ISIC-Rev.3.

Occupation:

Title of the classification:

Not known.

Population groups classified by occupation:

Employed and unemployed persons with previous work experience.

Number of groups used for coding:

4-digit codes, but published at 1-digit level.

Links to ISCO:

ISCO-88.

Status in employment:

Title of the classification:

No information.

Population groups classified by status in employment:

Employed and unemployed persons with previous work experience.

Groups used for classification:

Employer, Own-account worker, Public sector wage and salary earner, Private sector wage and salary earner, Cooperative sector wage and salary earner, Unpaid family worker.

Links to ICSE:

ICSE-1986.

Education:

Title of the classification:

No information.

Population groups classified by education:

Employed and unemployed persons

Groups used for classification:

No formal education, Literacy, Informal, Theological sciences, Primary school, Lower secondary level, Higher secondary school, High school diploma and preuniversity, Higher education.

Links to ISCED:

ISCED-1976.

Sample size and design:

Ultimate sampling unit:

Person.

Sample size (ultimate sampling units):

56,753.

Overall sampling fraction:

0.95%.

Sample frame:

The 1996 Nationwide Population and Housing Census.

Updating of the sample:

Not available.

Rotation:

Scheme:

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

Maximum number of interviews per sample unit:

Length of time for complete renewal of the sample:

Field work:

Type of interview:

Personal interview by enumerator.

Number of ultimate sampling units per sample area:

25 sample households per cluster. Each cluster requires on average 1.5 workdays for an enumerator.

Duration of field work:

Total:

15 days.

Per sample area:

Survey organization:

Permanent.

Number of field staff:

Total personnel for executing the survey is 640 persons.

Substitution of non-responding ultimate sampling units:

No.

Estimation and adjustments:

Total non-response rate:

No information provided.

Adjustment for total non-response:

No.

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:

No.

History of the survey:

Title and date of the first survey:

Survey of household employment and unemployment characteristics (11-26 December 1977).

Significant changes or revisions:

The first rounds of the survey (entitled “Labour force survey”) were carried out by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs from 1969 to 1972.

The second round (entitled “Survey of the population and the labour force”) was carried out by the Statistical Centre of Iran in February 1989.

The third round (entitled “Survey of household employment and unemployment characteristics”) was carried out by the Statistical Centre of Iran in February 1994.

The fourth round (also entitled “Survey of household employment and unemployment characteristics”) has been conducted by the Statistical Centre of Iran on an annual basis since December 1997. There are plans to conduct the survey twice a year. There are also plans to add survey items to the questionnaire, in particular, “income”, “citizenship”, and “type of employment”.

Documentation and dissemination:

Documentation:

Survey results:

Iran Statistical Yearbook Results of the household employment and unemployment characteristics survey. Collection of statistical instruction manuals for each survey.

Survey methodology:

Same as above.

Dissemination:

Time needed for initial release of survey results:

About 16 months. 1997 survey results released in June 1998.

Advance information of public about date of initial release:

Yes.

Availability of unpublished data upon request:

Yes through the Information Dissemination Unit and the domestic network of the Statistical Centre of Iran.

Availability of data in machine-readable form:

Yes, diskettes and the SCI domestic network.

Website:

http://www.sci.or.ir/.