Syrian Arab Republic

1.Title of the survey:

Labour Force Sample Survey.

2.Organization responsible for the survey:

Central Bureau of Statistics.

3.Coverage of the survey:

(a) Geographical:

The whole country.

(b) Persons covered:

All persons aged 10 years and over residing in the country, excluding non-sedentary and institutional populations, non-residents citizens, temporarily absent persons, persons residing abroad, and members of the armed forces.

4.Periodicity of the survey:

Since 1984, the survey is conducted every two years, in April (see also under History of the survey).

5.Reference period:

The week prior to the interview.

6.Topics covered:

The survey provides information on employment, unemployment, hours of work, wages and income, employment in the informal sector, duration of employment and unemployment, discouraged and occasional workers, industry, occupation, status in employment, level of education and usual activity.

7.Concepts and definitions:

(a) Employment:

The employed are all persons aged 10 years and over who, during the reference week, performed paid work for at least three days, including persons with a job who were temporarily not at work due to specific reasons.

Included are:

  1. full- and part-time workers seeking other work during the reference week;
  2. full- and part-time students working full- or part-time;
  3. participants in employment promotion schemes;
  4. paid and unpaid family workers, provided the latter have worked at least three hours a day during the reference week;
  5. private domestic servants;
  6. seasonal workers awaiting agricultural or other seasonal work;
  7. members of producers' co-operatives;
  8. persons with a job but temporarily absent due to illness or injury; vacation or annual leave; maternity or paternity leave; educational leave; absence without leave; bad weather; labour-management dispute; mechanical breakdown; or other reduction in economic activity;
  9. persons on temporary or indefinite lay-off without pay.

Excluded from the employed and considered as out of the labour force are:

  1. persons who performed any work for pay or profit during the reference week, while being subject to compulsory schooling or retired and receiving a pension;
  2. paid and unpaid apprentices and trainees;
  3. persons only engaged in own housework;
  4. persons doing unpaid community or social work.

(b) Underemployment:

This topic is not covered by the survey.

(c) Unemployment:

The unemployed are persons aged 10 years and over who, during the reference week, are without work and available for work. They include persons with previous work experience, as well as persons seeking their first job during the reference week.

Included are:

  1. persons without a job and currently available for work, who have made arrangements to start a new job on a date subsequent to the reference week (no time limit is set for the new job to begin);
  2. persons who performed some work for pay or profit during the reference week but were then registered as jobseekers at an employment office or receiving unemployment benefits;
  3. full- and part-time students seeking full- or part-time work.

Persons without work and currently available for work who are not seeking work during the reference period are excluded from the unemployed.

(d) Hours of work:

They relate to hours actually worked in main and secondary jobs during the reference week, including overtime.

(e) Informal sector:

The definition is not available.

(f) Usual activity:

It is measured for main and secondary jobs over the year preceding the interview.

8.Classifications used:

Employed persons and unemployed persons with previous work experience are classified by industry, occupation and status in employment. All persons aged 10 years and over covered by the survey are classified by level of education.

(a) Industry:

Coding is done to 10 groups which are linked to the International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC-1968) major divisions (1-digit level).

(b) Occupation:

The classification used is the Occupational Classification Guide. Coding is done to 10 groups. A link has been established with the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-1968) at the major group (1-digit) level.

(c) Status in employment:

Data are classified according to the following four status categories:
  1. Employer,
  2. Own-account worker,
  3. Employee,
  4. Unpaid worker (unpaid family worker or other unpaid worker).

(d) Level of education/qualifications:

Coding is done to seven groups:
  1. Illiterate,
  2. Literate,
  3. Primary school,
  4. Preparatory school,
  5. Secondary school,
  6. Intermediate institute,
  7. University and over.

9.Sample size and design:

(a) The sample frame:

It is based on the results of the latest Population Census and updated with the enumerators' reports.

(b) The sample:

Clustered sampling was adopted to select the basic sample; then clusters are selected by systematic random sampling. The ultimate sampling unit is the household.

The yearly sample size is approximately 16,200 households.

(c) Rotation:

Not applicable. Selected households are interviewed only once and the sample is renewed for each biennial survey.

10.Field work:

(a) Data collection:

Interviews are conducted by permanent staff members of the Central Bureau of Statistics. The field work lasts about two weeks; since 1984, it takes place in April.

(b) Substitution of ultimate sampling units:

A reserve sample is used to replace units that cannot be reached.

11.Quality controls:

During field work, specialized supervisors control the enumerator's work. Then during the processing stage, quality controls are carried out by computer programme.

12.Weighting the sample:

The sample estimates are expanded to the level of the total population by using a ratio corresponding to the inverse of the sampling fraction, based on the size of the population in each region covered by the survey.

13.Sampling errors:

The standard error of estimates is approximately 2 per cent for employment and 1 per cent for unemployment.

14.Adjustments:

(a) Population not covered:

No adjustment is made.

(b) Under/overcoverage:

No adjustment is made.

(c) Non-response:

The global non-response rate is 3 per cent. No adjustment is made.

15.Seasonal adjustment:

No adjustment is made for seasonal variations.

16.Non-sampling errors:

Not available.

17.History of the survey:

The Labour Force Sample Survey started in 1961 on an annual basis, and was conducted within one week in September of each year. No survey was carried out between 1979 and 1982 because of the 1981 Population Census. In 1983 there were two surveys, one in January and the other in July. Since 1984 the survey has been carried out every two years, in April.

In 1984 the survey results were revised in accordance with the preliminary results of the 1981 Population Census.

18.Documentation:

Office du Premier Ministre, Bureau central de Statistiques: "Results of Labour Force Surveys" (biennial) (Damas); published about a year after each survey.

The survey results can also be made available on request, in machine readable form (diskette and magnetic tape).