Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

households/individuals

Kind of data

survey

Frequency of data collection

Yearly

Sampling procedure

Sample size:

Abstract

The Labor Force and Child Labor Survey 2010 in Lao PDR provides data on the labor situation in Lao PDR, including the health and safety issues of working children (10-17 years old).

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

Individual, household, person of labour force age

Universe

All private households All working children aged 10-17 years old in households

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Proposed sampling procedure: A two-stage stratified sampling design is suggested for the Labor Force Survey (LFS), including a Child Labor Module, to be conducted during October 2010. First stage units (FSUs) will be village. 540 FSUs will be surveyed,17 provinces and 142 districts. Second Stage Units (SSUs) will be households. In all, 10,800 households will be selected, 20 households from each FSU.

(Please see manual of survey in Lao, page 2 and 12).

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The survey questionnaire composed of the following modules: 1 Module I. Household Composition and Characteristics of Household Members 2 Module II. -Educational attainment for all household members aged 5 and above 3 Module III. Current Activity Status (For household member age 5 year old and over) for last 7 days 4 Module IV. Usual Employment Status 5 Module V.1. Unemployment and Underemployment 6 Part V.2. Underemployment 7 Module VI. Unpaid Household Services (Household Chores) 8 Module VII. Health and Safety Issues about Working Children (10-17 years) ONLY 9 Module VIII. Social Security (ONLY for persons aged 14 years and over) 10 Module IX. Housing and Household characteristics 11 Migration characteristics 12 Module X. Trafficking module (For member of household whose age less than 25 year old)

Cleaning operations

• Office editing and coding (survey team responsible).
• Using Microsoft Access to create database and application form for data entry (IT team respondsible and hire person through training for data enrty).
• Structure checking and completeness (IT team responsible).
• Create output database and metadata to SPSS file (IT team responsible).
• Using SPSS for analysis (Survey team responsible).

Abstract

The Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey (LECS III) covers the whole of Lao PDR. The statistical unit is the households and the survey covers economic transactions of households to estimate household income, consumption and production and a number of social indicators.

The survey was undertaken from March 2002 to February 2003 (12 months) and it is a survey that NSC plans to conduct every 5 years.

LECS is a multi- purpose survey. Such surveys can be designed in various ways with emphasis on particular issues. In 1992/93 the LECS was combined with a large module of social indicators, Lao Social Indicator Survey (LSIS). The 1997/98 and 2002/03 versions focused on economic activities of the households.

The objectives of the LECS are basically to provide: - macro estimates for the National Accounts, both private consumption and household investments and income from agriculture and businesses - the consumption structure (weighing system) for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) - estimates of labor force - statistics on access to services - statistics on nutrition - statistics on poverty and income distribution

The LECS 3 sample was made up of 8,100 households from 540 villages, 15 households from each, enumerated over 12 months starting 1st of March 2002 and ending 28th of February 2003. The sample was selected using the NSC village list as a sampling frame.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Households
• Individuals
• Villages/ Communities

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

A two-stage sampling scheme was used. At the first stage a sample of villages was selected by PPS sampling. The villages were stratified in the following way. Firstly the villages were divided by province, and secondly into urban villages, rural villages with access to road and rural villages without access to road. In all, the village population was divided into 18 (provinces) x 3 (urban/rural classes) = 54 sampling strata. In LECS 2 the sample was allocated equally over the provinces (25 villages in each village). In LECS 3 the allocation was somewhere in between equal allocation and proportional allocation, the number of sample villages in the province ranging from 12 to 48.

The sample of villages in each province was allocated randomly to a survey month so that each survey month had approximately the same number of sample villages.

In the second stage a systematic sample of 15 households was selected in each sample village. The selection was based on a updated list of households in the villages at the time of the survey. The total number of households was less than 15 in four villages. In those villages all households were selected for the survey.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

A large part of the household questionnaire remains the same as in previous surveys, except for some modifications in questions that didn't work well in LECS-2. Some topics, mainly housing, health, agriculture and time use, have been expanded. The household interview is consequently somewhat longer in LECS-3. The new modules/variables are underscored in the list below.

First week interview: - Household composition (age, sex, relationship to head of household, marital status, ethnic group),
- Parents education (highest level completed), - Education (literacy, highest level completed, reasons for not attending school), - Labour force module (work during last week, reasons for not working, activities last 12 months) , - Victimization module (whether victim of burglary, robbery, theft, violence).

Second week interview: - Health check, only children (weight, height), - Possession of durables (type, value), - Housing conditions (building material, water, toilet, source of energy forr cooking), - Construction activities (kind of construction, costs).

Third week interview: - Household businesses module (sector, number of employees or family members working, sales), - Agriculture module (crops, areas, production, fertilizers, livestock, fishery, forestry), - Time use.

Fourth week interview: - Health module (self-rated health, long-term ilnesses or disabilities, health complaints, visits to health care facilities, use of medicines), - Purchasing and selling of durables (type of item, value), - Income and transfers (type of income, type of transfers, value), - Household borrowing (reasons for borrowing, amount, security, interest rate), - Household lending (amount, interest rate).

Other questionnaires. -Three other questionnaires were also administered during the month (new modules/variables are underscored).

• Village questionnaire. A village questionnaire wss administered to the head of the village. The questionnaire covers roads and transport, water, electricity, health facilities, local markets, schools etc.
• Primary school questionnaire. Interviews were made with the school principal and the teachers. Data were collected on pupils, school facilities, management of the school, finances and sources of support. The principal and the teachers were also asked questions about the decision-making in the school.
• Price questionnaire. Collection of local prices on 121 commodities at the village market.

This research is an Indicator Survey conducted in Lao PDR from May 15 to June 24, 2009, as part of the Enterprise Survey initiative. An Indicator Survey, which is similar to an Enterprise Survey, is implemented for smaller economies where the sampling strategies inherent in an Enterprise Survey are often not applicable due to the limited universe of firms. The objective of the survey is to obtain feedback from enterprises on the state of the private sector as well as to help in building a panel of enterprise data that will make it possible to track changes in the business environment over time, thus allowing, for example, impact assessments of reforms. Through interviews with firms in the manufacturing and services sectors, the survey assesses the constraints to private sector growth and creates statistically significant business environment indicators that are comparable across countries. Questionnaire topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, land and permits, taxation, business-government relations, and performance measures.

Abstract

This research was carried out in Lao PDR between May and October 2012 as a joint Enterprise Survey and Skills Toward Employment and Productivity (STEP) survey, and included a large panel component based on the 2009 data collection efforts.

The objective of Enterprise Surveys is to obtain feedback from businesses on the state of the private sector as well as to help in building a panel of enterprise data that will make it possible to track changes in the business environment over time, thus allowing, for example, impact assessments of reforms. Through interviews with firms in the manufacturing and services sectors, the survey assesses the constraints to private sector growth and creates statistically significant business environment indicators that are comparable across countries.

For Lao PDR 2012 study additional interviews were conducted in the following sectors: mining and quarrying, electricity, gas and water supply, financial intermediation, real estate, and education. The observations collected in these sectors were not used to compute indicators shown on the Enterprise Surveys website (www.enterprisesurveys.org) as they are not comparable to other countries surveyed.

Geographic coverage

Vientiane Capital, Champasack, Luang Prabang, Luang Namtha, Khammouane, and Savannakhet.

Analysis unit

The primary sampling unit of the study is an establishment.The establishment is a physical location where business is carried out and where industrial operations take place or services are provided. A firm may be composed of one or more establishments. For example, a brewery may have several bottling plants and several establishments for distribution. For the purposes of this survey an establishment must make its own financial decisions and have its own financial statements separate from those of the firm. An establishment must also have its own management and control over its payroll.

Universe

The whole population, or universe of the study, is the non-agricultural economy. It comprises: all manufacturing sectors according to the group classification of ISIC Revision 3.1: (group D), construction sector (group F), services sector (groups G and H), and transport, storage, and communications sector (group I). Note that this definition excludes the following sectors: financial intermediation (group J), real estate and renting activities (group K, except sub-sector 72, IT, which was added to the population under study), and all public or utilities-sectors.

In addition to the sectors common to the global methodology for the Enterprise Survey, additional interviews were conducted in the following sectors: Mining and Quarrying (group C), Electricity, gas and water supply (group E), Financial intermediation (group J), Real estate (group K), and Education (group M).

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample for Lao PDR was selected using stratified random sampling. Three levels of stratification were used in this country: industry, establishment size, and region.

Industry stratification was designed in the way that follows: the universe was stratified into 23 manufacturing industries, 2 services industries; retail, and other services as defined in the sampling manual. Additional stratification took place in the following sectors: mining and quarrying (group C), electricity, gas and water supply (group E), financial intermediation (group J), real estate (group K), and education (group M).

Size stratification was defined following the standardized definition for the rollout: small (5 to 19 employees), medium (20 to 99 employees), and large (more than 99 employees). For stratification purposes, the number of employees was defined on the basis of reported permanent full-time workers. This seems to be an appropriate definition of the labor force since seasonal/casual/part-time employment is not a common practice, except in the sectors of construction and agriculture.

Regional stratification was defined in six regions: Vientiane Capital, Champasack, Luang Prabang, Luang Namtha, Khammouane, and Savannakhet.

One frame was used for Lao PDR. The sample frame used in Lao PDR was obtained from the "Preliminary Survey in the Business Sector" (2008), maintained by the National Statistic Centre, Department of Statistics under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Government of Lao PDR. This listing was updated by the Department of Statistics in 2012 as part of the implementation of this survey.

The enumerated establishments were then used as the frame for the selection of a sample with the aim of obtaining interviews at 380 establishments with five or more employees.

The quality of the frame was assessed at the onset of the project through calls to a random subset of firms and local contractor knowledge. The sample frame was not immune from the typical problems found in establishment surveys: positive rates of non-eligibility, repetition, non-existent units, etc. Due to response rate and ineligibility issues, additional sample had to be extracted by DCS and the World Bank in order to obtain enough eligible contacts and meet the sample targets.

Given the impact that non-eligible units included in the sample universe may have on the results, adjustments may be needed when computing the appropriate weights for individual observations. The percentage of confirmed non-eligible units as a proportion of the total number of sampled establishments contacted for the survey was 14% (116 out of 830 establishments).

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Only one questionnaire was used for all sectors. This questionnaire had two versions: one for manufacturing and one for services firms. This questionnaire was also split into two sections with one containing the standard Enterprise Survey questions and the second containing the STEP skills, training, and education questions.

The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance.

Cleaning operations

Data entry and quality controls are implemented by the contractor and data is delivered to the World Bank in batches (typically 10%, 50% and 100%). These data deliveries are checked for logical consistency, out of range values, skip patterns, and duplicate entries. Problems are flagged by the World Bank and corrected by the implementing contractor through data checks, callbacks, and revisiting establishments.

Response rate

The number of contacted establishments per realized interview was 2.27. This number is the result of two factors: explicit refusals to participate in the survey, as reflected by the rate of rejection (which includes rejections of the screener and the main survey) and the quality of the sample frame, as represented by the presence of ineligible units. The number of rejections per contact was 0.043.

Item non-response was addressed by two strategies: a- For sensitive questions that may generate negative reactions from the respondent, such as corruption or tax evasion, enumerators were instructed to collect the refusal to respond as a different option from don’t know. b- Establishments with incomplete information were re-contacted in order to complete this information, whenever necessary.

Survey non-response was addressed by maximizing efforts to contact establishments that were initially selected for interview. Attempts were made to contact the establishment for interview at different times/days of the week before a replacement establishment (with similar strata characteristics) was suggested for interview. Survey non-response did occur but substitutions were made in order to potentially achieve strata-specific goals.

The STEP (Skills Toward Employment and Productivity) Measurement program is the first ever initiative to generate internationally comparable data on skills available in developing countries. The program implements standardized surveys to gather information on the supply and distribution of skills and the demand for skills in labor market of low-income countries. The uniquely-designed Household Survey includes modules that measure the cognitive skills (reading, writing and numeracy), socio-emotional skills (personality, behavior and preferences) and job-specific skills (subset of transversal skills with direct job relevance) of a representative sample of adults aged 15 to 64 living in urban areas, whether they work or not. The cognitive skills module also incorporates a direct assessment of reading literacy based on the Survey of Adults Skills instruments. Modules also gather information about family, health and language.

Abstract

The economic census is the first large enterprise survey in Lao PDR. The National Statistics Center (NSC) has conducted some small enterprise survey since 1997, but the findings of those surveys cannot fully fulfill the objectives and they have been mainly used for the calculation of the National Accounts (the Gross Domestic Product). Moreover, those surveys were based on the sample frame of the enterprise registration which is incomplete. The findings therefore could not capture the precise situation of the economic activities of both public and private entities at national as well as provincial level. Finally, the size of the sample for the annual enterprise survey is only 1 500 to 1 800, while the quarterly one is only 280 samples.

This economic census will collect information from all business entities across the country that have permanent location and are located in the village with road access and urban villages. The interview does not take place in the business entities located in the village with no road access and rural villages, and only keep a record of those business entities. The survey is interview-based.

The main objectives of the economic census are: 1. To precisely record all the economic units which are currently operating in Lao PDR so that policy maker and planner could conduct detailed analysis of the economic activities in various sectors. 2. To build the data base of all economic units which will be used as an accurate sampling frame for any related future surveys. 3. To provide supplementary data for the estimation of national income and labor force in every economic activity. 4. To analyze the distribution of the economic units with respect to geographical location such as province and district as well as different size of the industry.

To implement the prime-minister agreement number 58/PMO dated 31st April 2006 on the 1st Economic Census of 2006, the government appoints the supervision committee at central and provincial level to supervise and lead every stage of the survey.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

Establishment

Universe

The survey covers: - Every business entity either formal or informal including shops that operate any economic activities (based on ISIC system) and non-profit and non-government organizations.

The survey does not cover: o household agriculture productions including raising animals: chicken, pig and fish (animal farms are however included in the survey) o international organizations and representative offices such as embassy or some projects of the foreign embassies) o schools, hospitals and other primary economic units located inside military camps and police departments (for those located outside the military camps and police offices are covered in the survey) o the economic units and shops that are temporary closed down for renovations

The survey (interview) does not cover the business entities that are self-employed business, operate at the owner’s residence or do not have permanent office such as carpenter, taxi driver and mobile sellers and only the statistics on these groups of entities are collected.

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Sampling procedure

No sampling was done as this is a census.

There were a total of 209,484 primary economic units registered during the registration stage in October 2006 including the economic units of various forms and levels. However, the actual field survey only covers 137 357 units excluding the units located in villages with no road access and those with no permanent address (mobile shops, street vendors, lottery sellers, Tuk Tuk driver, taxi driver, mobile fruit carts and other temporary retail shops in the school and the like) and other production unit with only one labor in various sectors such as handicraft, weaving, agriculture, forestry and animal breeding.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The questionnaire covers the following information: - Enterprise Information - Organization - Employment - Income - Compensation - Expenditure - Asset - Capital - Storage - Balance

Abstract

The Annual Household Survey is conducted to provide data requirements of the National Accounts of Lao PDR.

Geographic coverage

• National
• Province
• Urban and Rural
• Three Regions: North, Central, South

Analysis unit

• Household
• Individual

Universe

• All private household in Lao PDR
• all person 10 years and over

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

• Household Sameple Size: 2,400 household
• Village Sample Size: 240 Villages
• AHS 2004, For each village, random sample of 5 household from 10 household of AHS2003 and 5 new household from the list provided by village chief to the enumerator.

For detail please refer to the manual for "AHS2004 Report - Final" (Lao version) on page 2.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

AHS 2004 has 2 forms:

(1) Household Survey - identification - household composition - labor force: labor force participation last sevendays; overview of work in the last seven days - construction activities in the past 12 months - household businesses: establishing the existence of non-farm enterprises - agriculture: crop harvested during last 12 months; fishery; forestry; livestock, poultry - households' purchase and selling of durables during the last 12 months - income and transfers

(2) Diary Expenditure and Consumption Household Survey - identification - households' diary sheet for household transactions

Cleaning operations

Data editing: - Office editing and coding - Use software Microsoft Access for entry and checking data - Use SQL Server for Database - Use SPSS for analysis