Nepal

Title of the survey:

Nepal Labour Force Survey.

Organization responsible for the survey:

Planning and conduct of the survey:

Central Bureau of Statistics.

Analysis and publication of the results:

Central Bureau of Statistics.

Topics covered:

Employment, unemployment, underemployment, hours actually worked, wages, informal sector employment, duration of employment, duration of unemployment, industry, occupation, status in employment, education and qualification levels, usual activity, second jobs, past employment record.

Coverage of the survey:

Geographical:

Whole country.

Population groups:

The survey covers the permanent residents of Nepal, including foreign nationals. Homeless persons, persons living in institutions (such as school hostels, prisons, army camps or hospitals), and persons absent from their household for six months or more, are not covered. Households of diplomatic missions are excluded.

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

No information provided.

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

No information provided.

Periodicity:

Conduct of the survey:

Irregularly. The first Nepal Labour Force Survey was conducted during the period May 1998-April 1999.

Publication of results:

Irregularly, depending upon the conduct of the survey.

Reference periods:

Employment:

Moving reference period of one week, i.e. the last seven days prior to the interview date.

Seeking work:

Moving reference period of one month, i.e. the last 30 days prior to the interview date.

Availability for work:

Moving reference period of one week, i.e. the last seven days prior to the interview date.

Concepts and definitions:

Employment:

Persons aged 5 years or over who did some work (i.e. for at least one hour) for pay, profit or family gain during the reference week.

Included are:

  1. contributing family workers at work during the reference week;
  2. full- or part-time workers seeking other work;
  3. persons who performed some work during the reference week but who were subject to compulsory schooling, or retired and receiving a pension, or registered as job seekers at an employment office;
  4. fulltime students working full- or part-time;
  5. part-time students working full- or part-time;
  6. paid apprentices and trainees;
  7. persons engaged in the production of goods for own final use; and
  8. persons on civilian service equivalent to military service.
Persons, who were temporarily absent from work during the reference week because of illness or injury, vacation or annual leave, maternity or paternity leave, or educational or training leave, etc. are considered employed if (i) they had a job or own enterprise to return to, and (ii) either were receiving any pay (in cash or in kind) or other returns from a job or business while not at work, or had been absent from work without pay or returns for less than two months.

Excluded are:

  1. contributing family workers not at work during the reference week;
  2. unpaid apprentices and trainees;
  3. persons absent from work due to labour management dispute;
  4. persons absent from work due to bad weather, mechanical breakdown, etc.;
  5. persons on temporary or indefinite lay-off without pay;
  6. persons on unpaid leave initiated by the employer;
  7. seasonal workers not at work during the off-season;
  8. persons rendering unpaid or personal services to members of their own household; and
  9. persons doing unpaid volunteer community or social service work.

Unemployment:

Persons aged 5 years or over who (i) were not employed during the reference week (including persons who had a job or own enterprise to return to, but had been absent from it without pay or other returns for two months or more), (ii) were available for work during the reference week, and (iii) had been looking for work during the last 30 days, or had not been looking for work during the last 30 days for any of the following reasons: belief that no work is available; awaiting reply to earlier enquiries; waiting to start an arranged job or business; off-season for fishing or agriculture; other reason. The following are considered as methods of looking for work: applying to any employers; asking friends or relatives about finding work; taking action to start an own business; looking for work in other ways.

Included are: (a) persons without work and currently available for work, who had made arrangements to start a new job on a date subsequent to the reference week; (b) persons without work and currently available for work, who were trying to establish their own enterprise; (c) persons without work and currently available for work, but not seeking work for reasons other than (a) or (b) above; (d) persons seeking work and/or available for work who were subject to compulsory schooling, or retired and receiving a pension; (e) full-time students seeking and/or available for full- or part-time work; (f) part-time students seeking and/or available for full- or part-time work; and (g) participants in employment promotion schemes. Excluded are persons without work who were not available for work during the reference week.

Separate estimates are available for unemployed persons, who had been looking for work during the last 30 days, and for unemployed persons, who had not been looking for work during the last 30 days.

Underemployment:

Time-related underemployment:

Employed persons at work who worked less than 40 hours during the reference week for any of the following involuntary (i.e. economic) reasons: cannot find more work or lack of business; lack of finance or raw materials; machinery, electrical or other breakdown; off-season inactivity; strike or lay-off as the result of an industrial dispute; other involuntary reason. For persons with more than one job, the threshold of 40 hours refers to the total number of hours worked in all jobs during the reference week.

Inadequate employment situations:

This topic is not covered by the survey.

Hours of work:

Hours actually worked during the reference week. Information is collected on the total number of hours worked in all jobs and on the number of hours worked in the main job.

Employment-related income:

Income from paid employment:

Gross wages or salaries received in cash or in kind during the last week or last month for the main paid employment job, before the deduction of tax, social security or pension payments. All additional benefits, such as bonuses, tips or incentives, are included. Other regular income from paid employment is also included, but converted to a weekly or monthly basis as appropriate (e.g., one twelfth of the 13th-month payment given to civil servants is added). Earnings in kind include the regular supply of food, clothing, housing, water, electricity, fuel, transport, etc. on a free or subsidized basis. Non-regular earnings, such as gifts in cash or in kind, are excluded.

Income from self-employment:

This topic is not covered by the survey.

Informal sector:

Employment in the informal sector includes the following groups: (a) paid employees working for private unregistered enterprises (or for other enterprises that are not government units, public corporations, NGOs/INGOs, or private registered companies) with less than 10 regular paid employees; (b) own-account workers (i.e. persons operating their own business without regular paid employees); (c) employers (i.e. persons operating their own business with regular paid employees) employing less than 10 regular paid employees; and (d) contributing family members without pay and others working in businesses with less than 10 regular paid employees. Persons working in the agricultural sector are excluded. The information refers to the main job only; persons with a secondary job in the informal sector are not covered.

Usual activity:

Usual economic activity refers to the work experience during a reference period of one year, i.e. the 12 full calendar months preceding the interview date. Persons aged 5 years or over are considered usually active if, during the 12 reference months, they worked or were available for work for a total of 180 or more days. Usually active persons can be sub-divided into usually employed persons and usually unemployed persons. Usually employed persons are those for whom the total length of employment periods during the 12 reference months was equal or larger than the total length of unemployment periods. Usually unemployed persons are those for whom the total length of unemployment periods during the 12 reference months was larger than the total length of employment periods.

Classifications:

Branch of economic activity (industry):

Title of the classification:

International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC-Rev.3).

Population groups classified by industry:

Employed persons.

Number of groups used for coding:

Divisions (2-digit level).

Links to ISIC:

ISIC-Rev.3.

Occupation:

Title of the classification:

International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-88).

Population groups classified by occupation:

Employed persons.

Number of groups used for coding:

Minor groups (3-digit level).

Links to ISCO:

ISCO-88.

Status in employment:

Title of the classification:

National classification of status in employment.

Population groups classified by status in employment:

Employed persons.

Groups used for classification:

(a) Paid employees; (b) persons operating their own business or farm with regular paid employees; (c) persons operating their own business or farm without regular paid employees; (d) contributing family members without pay; (e) others.

Links to ICSE:

ICSE-1993.

Education:

Title of the classification:

National classification of levels of educational attainment.

Population groups classified by education:

All persons aged 5 years or over.

Groups used for classification:

(a) Never attended school; (b) preschool/kindergarten; (c) – (l) Classes 1-10; (m) intermediate if Class 11; (n) intermediate if Class 12; (o) B.A./B.Sc.; (p) M.A./M.Sc.; (q) Professional Degree; (r) other.

Links to ISCED:

ISCED-1976, 3-digit level.

Sample size and design:

Ultimate sampling unit:

Household.

Sample size (ultimate sampling units):

14,400 households (7,200 in urban areas and 7,200 in rural areas).

Overall sampling fraction:

About 0.4 percent of households (1.5 percent in urban areas and 0.2 percent in rural areas).

Sample frame:

Area sample frame based on the list of enumeration areas from the Population Census 1991. Enumeration areas in new municipalities created since 1991 were transferred from the rural frame to the urban frame. Prior to the survey, a complete new listing of households was made in all the 720 enumeration areas included in the sample.

Updating of the sample:

Not applicable.

Rotation:

Scheme:

No sample rotation. Data collection is spread over a period of one year in dividing the survey sample into three independent subsamples, each one representing four months in the Nepalese calendar (rainy season, winter season, dry season).

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

Not applicable.

Maximum number of interviews per sample unit:

Not applicable.

Length of time for complete renewal of the sample:

Not applicable.

Field work:

Type of interview:

Information is obtained through personal interviews.

Number of ultimate sampling units per sample area:

20 households per sample enumeration area.

Duration of field work:

Total:

One year.

Per sample area:

Five days per sample enumeration area.

Survey organization:

A permanent survey organization is used for the survey.

Number of field staff:

15 supervisors and 46 interviewers.

Substitution of non-responding ultimate sampling units:

No replacement is made for non-responding households.

Estimation and adjustments:

Total non-response rate:

0.3 percent of sample households.

Adjustment for total non-response:

Yes.

Imputation for item non-response:

No.

Adjustment for areas/population not covered:

No.

Adjustment for undercoverage:

No.

Adjustment for overcoverage:

Not applicable.

Adjustment for seasonal variations:

Not applicable.

History of the survey:

Title and date of the first survey:

The first Nepal Labour Force Survey was conducted in 1998/1999.

Significant changes or revisions:

Not applicable.

Documentation and dissemination:

Documentation:

Survey results:

Central Bureau of Statistics, Report on the Nepal Labour Force Survey 1998/99, December 1999.

Survey methodology:

The above publication also contains methodological information on the survey.

Dissemination:

Time needed for initial release of survey results:

About eight months.

Advance information of public about date of initial release:

No.

Availability of unpublished data upon request:

Yes, in the form of additional tables.

Availability of data in machine-readable form:

Yes, on diskettes.

Website: