Abstract

The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) introduced the Labour Force Survey (LFS) program to avail statistics on employment and labour market in Rwanda on a continuous basis, providing bi-annual estimates of the main labour force aggregates. The main objective of the survey is to collect data on the size and characteristics of the labour force, employment, unemployment and other labour market characteristics of the population. The survey was also designed to measure different forms of work, in particular, own-use production work and other components of labour underutilization including time-related underemployment and potential labour force in line with the new international standards, adopted by the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in 2013.

Geographic coverage

Labour force survey data are at the National level coverage but Employment and Labour force participation rate are represented at the District level as well as by residential area.

Analysis unit

Household and individual

Universe

The target population eligible for Labor force survey is 16 years old and above resident of selected households. However, the survey also collected data on certain particular labour-market related issues such as income from employment, migrant workers and workers with disabilities. The survey consider all persons living in private households. It excludes the institutional population permanently residing in houses such as hostels; health resorts; correctional establishments etc., as well as persons living in seasonal dwellings not covered in the survey. It also excludes workers living at their work-sites.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Sample size determination in most household-based surveys with multi-stage stratified design is based on the principle of first calculating the required sample size for a single «domain» assuming a simple random sample design and no non-response. A domain is a well-defined population group for which estimates with pre-determined accuracy are sought. The results are then extended to allow for non-response and deviation from simple random sampling.

The sample design of the LFS is a two-stage stratified design according to which at the first stage of sampling, a stratified sample of enumeration areas from the latest population census is drawn with probabilities proportional to size measured in terms of the census number of households or census number of household members, and at the second stage of sampling, a fixed number of sample of households is selected with equal probability within each sample enumeration areas. Finally, all household members in the sample households are selected for survey interviewing.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

The questionnaire of the Rwanda Labour Force Survey 2018 in its present form contains a total of 149 questions organized into 9 sections and a cover page, dealing with following topics: A. Household roster (All Household member) B. Education (Person with 14 years and above) C. Identification of employed, time-related underemployed, unemployed and potential labour force (Person with 14 years and above) D. Characteristics of main job/activity (Person with 14 years and above) E. Characteristics of secondary job/activity (Person with 14 years and above) F. Past employment (Person with 14 years and above) G. Own-use production of goods and services (Person with 14 years and above) H. Subsistence foodstuff production (Person with 14 years and above & Household) I. Housing and household assets (Household)

Not all questions are addressed to every household member. For children below 14 years of age, a minimum number of questions are asked. For older youngsters and adults 14 years of age and above, the number of questions depends on the situation and activities of the person during the reference period. The basic reference period is the last 7 days prior to the date of the interview. For certain questions, however, other reference periods are used. In each case, the relevant reference period is indicated in the text of the question.

Cleaning operations

Since August 2017 an electronic data collection system has replaced paper based questionnaire and data were collected using computerized assisted interview (CAPI). Data was uploaded to NISR severs from the field via wireless network channel by synchronizing every day with the NISR server. It was carried every day to have a daily back up of data. All the activity of codification were also done to the field by interviewers who were trained. Several questions with textual responses were pre-coded in tabled in cascaded way. These concerned education (major field of study in highest qualification attained, and subject of training), occupation and branch of economic activity (at main and secondary job and past employment experience). They were coded into the corresponding national standard classifications using on-screen coding with corresponding dictionaries in Kinyarwanda. Coding of geographic areas and addresses was incorporated in the data entry program as look-up. Following coding, responses of each questionnaire were edited for blanks, missing values, duplicates, out-of-range values, and inconsistencies such as no head of household or age of child greater than age of head of household using developed batches of controlling inconsistence in CsPro and Stata. Edit rules were developed for consistency checks on questions related to the measurement of the main labour force variables, including employment, unemployment, multiple jobholding, total hours usually worked at all jobs, total hours actually worked at all jobs, status in employment at main job, etc. Corrections were made mostly with reference to the original physical questionnaire

Response rate

The response rate for labor force survey 2019 is 98.6%

Abstract

The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) introduced the Labour Force Survey (LFS) program to avail statistics on employment and labour market in Rwanda on a continuous basis, providing bi-annual estimates of the main labour force aggregates. The main objective of the survey is to collect data on the size and characteristics of the labour force, employment, unemployment and other labour market characteristics of the population. The survey was also designed to measure different forms of work, in particular, own-use production work and other components of labour underutilization including time-related underemployment and potential labour force in line with the new international standards, adopted by the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in 2013.

Geographic coverage

Labor force survey data are at the National level coverage.

Analysis unit

• Individuals

• Households

Universe

The target population eligible for Labor force survey is 16 years old and above resident in selected households. However, the survey also collected data on certain particular labour-market related issues such as working children 5 to 17 years old, income from employment, migrant workers and workers with disabilities.

It is important to note that the survey is limited to persons living in private households. It excludes the institutional population permanently residing in houses such as hostels; health resorts; correctional establishments etc., as well as persons living in seasonal dwellings not covered in the survey. It also excludes workers living at their work-sites. A household is a group of persons who live together and make common provision for food and other essentials for living. The people in the group may be related or unrelated or a combination of both. A household may consist of only one person or several persons.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample design of the Labor force survey is a two-stage stratified design according to which at the first stage of sampling, a stratified sample of enumeration areas from the latest population census is drawn with probabilities proportional to size measured in terms of the census number of households or census number of household members, and at the second stage of sampling, a fixed number of sample of households is selected with equal probability within each sample enumeration areas. Finally, all household members in the sample households are selected for survey interviewing.

The application of this principle leads to a sample size requirement of 18,691 households for measuring annual unemployment with margin of errors of +/- 0.3% at 95% confidence level. In these calculations, the main indicator is the ratio of unemployment to the working age population, set at r=0.024 according to the 2012 population census of Rwanda. The design effect (deff) is set at 3, within the range of values (3 to 4) generally used for labour force surveys. The margin of errors (ME = 0.0026) is twice the standard error of the estimate. Similar calculations for employment gave a sample size requirement of 18,792 households. Because the sample size should be a multiple of 2x4x16 for two survey rounds per year, four rotation groups per round and 16 sample households per Primary Sampling Unit (PSU), the required annual sample size has been rounded to 18688 households. For the August 2017 round, the sample size was therefore set at Sample size of LFS August 2017 = 18688/2 = 9344 households.

The next step in sample design was the selection of the 584 sample enumeration areas. The sample was drawn in each district by probability proportional to size (pps) from the sampling frame. In practice, the sample of enumeration areas was selected from the start for an entire sequence of 18 survey rounds from August 2016 to August 2023 when in principle a new sampling frame constructed on the basis of the next population and housing census will become available. The selected sample was then assigned randomly to 18 rotation groups. Sample enumeration areas in rotation groups R1 to R4 formed the sample for LFS August 2016. The sample of enumeration areas assigned to rotation groups R3 to R6 were used for LFS August 2017. The sample enumeration areas assigned to R4 to R7 will be used for LFS February 2018, and so on. The same process will continue on each round with the addition of one rotation group per round. The sample enumeration areas were freshly listed prior to selection of the final sample of households. According to the sample design, 16 sample households were selected from the list of households in each sample enumeration area by systematic sampling with equal probability. If the list contained 16 households or less all households in the sample enumeration area were drawn in the sample. If the list contained more than 16 households, a sample of fixed size (16 households) was drawn from the list by systematic random sampling.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The questionnaire was drafted in English and translated into Kinyarwanda. An instruction manual was developed in order to guide the enumerators how to use better the questionnaire and conduct interviews.

The questionnaire had the following sections:

• A Household roster including activities of children aged 5 to 13 years old

• Education

• Identification of employed, time-related underemployed

• unemployed and potential labour force

• Characteristics of main job/activity

• Characteristics of secondary job/activity

• Past employment

• Own-use production of goods and services

• Subsistence foodstuff production

• Housing and household assets

Cleaning operations

Since August 2017 an electronic data collection system has replaced paper-based questionnaire and data were collected using computerized assisted interview (CAPI). Data was uploaded to NISR main office from field via wireless network channel by synchronizing every day with the NISR server. It was carried every day to have a daily back up of data. All the activity of codification was also done to the field by interviewers who were trained. Several questions with textual responses were pre-coded in tabled in cascaded way. These concerned education (major field of study in highest qualification attained, and subject of training), occupation and branch of economic activity (at main and secondary job and past employment experience). They were coded into the corresponding national standard classifications using on-screen coding with corresponding dictionaries in Kinyarwanda. Coding of geographic areas and addresses was incorporated in the data entry programme as look-up. Following coding, responses of each questionnaire were edited for blanks, missing values, duplicates, out-of-range values, and inconsistencies such as no head of household or age of child greater than age of head of household using developed batches of controlling inconsistence in CsPro and Stata. Editing specifications on coverage and demographic characteristics were based on the population and housing census (PHC4 2012). Other edit rules were developed for consistency checks on questions related to the measurement of the main labour force variables, including employment, unemployment, multiple jobholding, total hours usually worked at all jobs, total hours actually worked at all jobs, status in employment at main job, etc. Corrections were made mostly with reference to the original physical questionnaire.

Response rate

The response rate for labor force survey 2017 is 98.4%

Abstract

The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) introduced the Labour Force Survey (LFS) program to avail statistics on employment and labour market in Rwanda on a continuous basis, providing bi-annual estimates of the main labour force aggregates. The main objective of the survey is to collect data on the size and characteristics of the labour force, employment, unemployment and other labour market characteristics of the population. The survey was also designed to measure different forms of work, in particular, own-use production work and other components of labour underutilization including time-related underemployment and potential labour force in line with the new international standards, adopted by the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in 2013.

Geographic coverage

Labor force survey data are at the National level coverage

Analysis unit

• Individuals

• Households

Universe

The target population eligible for Labor force survey is 16 years old and above resident of selected households. However, the survey also collected data on certain particular labour-market related issues such as income from employment, migrant workers and workers with disabilities.

It is important to note that the survey is limited to persons living in private households. It excludes the institutional population permanently residing in houses such as hostels; health resorts; correctional establishments etc., as well as persons living in seasonal dwellings not covered in the survey. It also excludes workers living at their work-sites. A household is a group of persons who live together and make common provision for food and other essentials for living. The people in the group may be related or unrelated or a combination of both. A household may consist of only one person or several persons.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample design of the LFS is a two-stage stratified design according to which at the first stage of sampling, a stratified sample of enumeration areas from the latest population census is drawn with probabilities proportional to size measured in terms of the census number of households or census number of household members, and at the second stage of sampling, a fixed number of sample of households is selected with equal probability within each sample enumeration areas. Finally, all household members in the sample households are selected for survey interviewing.

The application of this principle with the choice of parameters described below leads to a sample size requirement of 18,691 households for measuring annual unemployment with margin of errors of +/- 0.3% at 95% confidence level. In these calculations, the main indicator is the ratio of unemployment to the working age population, set at r=0.024 according to the 2012 population census of Rwanda. The design effect (deff) is set at 3, within the range of values (3 to 4) generally used for labour force surveys. The margin of errors (ME = 0.0026) is twice the standard error of the estimate.13Similar calculations for employment gave a sample size requirement of 18,792 households.

Because the sample size should be a multiple of 4x16 for February 2018 survey round, four rotation groups with 146 Primary Sampling Unit per rotation and 16 sample households per Primary Sampling Unit (PSU) that give a sample size of 9,344 households. Since we are shifting from bi-annual to quarterly LFS, August 2018 survey round has been set as a period of transition, therefore 530 PSU has been used with the sample size of 9,248 households. Two rounds of 2018 LFS have been rounded to the sample size 18,592 households.

To ensure adequate geographical distribution of the sample over the different parts of the population, the sample is allocated among the 30 districts of the country. Prior to sample selection, the sampling frame is sorted according to urban and rural areas within districts. This provides an implicit stratification of the population by urban and rural areas. The resulting distribution of the sample of the February and August 2018 LFS rounds obtained on the basis of the square-root allocation is shown in the following tables. The sample design for February round provides a total of 9344 households in 584 enumeration areas, with 3248 urban households in 203 urban enumeration areas and 6096 rural households in 381 rural enumeration areas while the sample design for August round provides a total of 9248 households in 530 enumeration areas, with 3112 urban households in 180 urban enumeration areas and 6136 rural households in 381 rural enumeration areas.

The next step in sample design was the selection of the 584 sample enumeration areas. The sample was drawn in each district by probability proportional to size (pps) from the sampling frame. In practice, the sample of enumeration areas were selected from the start for an entire sequence of 18 survey rounds from August 2016 to August 2023 when in principle a new sampling frame constructed on the basis of the next population and housing census will become available. The selected sample was then assigned randomly to 18 rotation groups. Sample enumeration areas in rotation groups R1 to R4 formed the sample for LFS August 2016. The sample of enumeration areas assigned to rotation groups R3 to R6 were used for LFS August 2017. The sample enumeration areas assigned to R4 to R7 will be used for LFS February 2018, and so on. Given that the August 2018 has been the transition to the quarterly design, a special composition of the August 2018 sample has been designed. It is composed of the old rotation group 5, the outgoing rotation group from the bi-annual design. It is also composed of the two other old rotation groups 6 and 7, randomly divided into three equal parts (6+7)/3, one serving as new rotation group r1, the other as new rotation group r2 and the third as new rotation group r3. Finally, the August 2018 sample include a randomly selected one-third of the old rotation groups 8 and 9, which was treated as the new households entering the sample. The other one-third samples (8+9)/3 will be used as the new households entering the sample in February 2019 and May 2019, respectively. The same procedure will be used for the new rotation groups entering the sample each quarter from August 2019 onward.

The sample enumeration areas were freshly listed prior to selection of the final sample of households. According to the February 2018 sample design, 16 sample households were selected from the list of households in each sample enumeration area by systematic sampling with equal probability. If the list contained 16 households or less all households in the sample enumeration area were drawn in the sample. If the list contained more than 16 households, a sample of fixed size (16 households) was drawn from the list by systematic random sampling. In order to keep almost the same number of households, the sample intake of 24 households in 96 new enumerations areas were used in August 2018 sample size which resulted to the sample size of 9,248 instead of 9,344 sample households for previous rounds.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The questionnaire was drafted in English and translated into Kinyarwanda. An instruction manual was developed in order to guide the enumerators how to use better the questionnaire and conduct interviews.

The questionnaire had the following sections:

• A Household roster

• Education

• Identification of employed, time-related underemployed,

• unemployed and potential labour force

• Characteristics of main job/activity

• Characteristics of secondary job/activity

• Past employment

• Own-use production of goods and services

• Subsistence foodstuff production

• Housing and household assets

Cleaning operations

Since August 2017 an electronic data collection system has replaced paper-based questionnaire and data were collected using computerized assisted interview (CAPI). Data was uploaded to NISR main office from field via wireless network channel by synchronizing every day with the NISR server. It was carried every day to have a daily back up of data. All the activity of codification was also done to the field by interviewers who were trained. Several questions with textual responses were pre-coded in tabled in cascaded way. These concerned education (major field of study in highest qualification attained, and subject of training), occupation and branch of economic activity (at main and secondary job and past employment experience). They were coded into the corresponding national standard classifications using on-screen coding with corresponding dictionaries in Kinyarwanda. Coding of geographic areas and addresses was incorporated in the data entry programme as look-up. Following coding, responses of each questionnaire were edited for blanks, missing values, duplicates, out-of-range values, and inconsistencies such as no head of household or age of child greater than age of head of household using developed batches of controlling inconsistence in CsPro and Stata. Edit rules were developed for consistency checks on questions related to the measurement of the main labour force variables, including employment, unemployment, multiple jobholding, total hours usually worked at all jobs, total hours actually worked at all jobs, status in employment at main job, etc. Corrections were made mostly with reference to the original physical questionnaire.

Response rate

The response rate for labor force survey 2018 is 98.7%