Labour Force Survey 2008
Namibia, 2008
Identification
NAM_2008_LFS_v01_M
Labour Force Survey 2008
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Namibia | NAM |
Labor Force Survey [hh/lfs]
Namibia Labor Force Survey is a two stage sample survey whereby only selected households among the selected PSUs are interviewed. This survey is conducted every 3 years to keep track of developments in the labor market. The survey collects information from private households, other households such as those in institutional barracks of army and police, hospitals, hotels, hostels are usually excluded. Demographic information is collected from all members of the sampled households, while economic activities are restricted to only those members who are 15 years and above.
Namibia conducted its fifth post-Independence national labor force survey in 2008. This survey, known as the Namibia Labor Force Survey 2008 (LFS 2008), provides a wealth of information on the state of labor force in the country that is by far superior in scope and quality to any that has been available previously, in particular that it incorporated a detailed module on Informal sector and Informal employment.
The 2008 Namibia Labor Force Survey was conducted to generate all the necessary information that would provide Government with the statistical data for analysis of employment, unemployment and underemployment and hence assist in formulating well-conceived policies designed to achieve full employment and promote socio-economic development in general. The report provides a wide range of information on population size and composition, employment and unemployment and other socio-economic characteristics of the workforce.
The findings of the survey provide important statistical base for strategic policy formulation. Apart from informing the public about the state of employment in Namibia, the survey results and in particular the unemployment rate should provide a basis for the evaluation and analysis of the macro-economic policies of the country. The results will also be essential in the design and evaluation of overall government policies aimed at promoting and creating employment.
Sample survey data [ssd]
- Individuals
- Households
Version
Version 1.0 Edited, anonymous dataset for public distribution.
2013-06-18
Scope
The scope of the Labor Force Survey includes:
Demographic characteristics: age, sex, marital status, nationality, relationship to household head, pension/grant, education, language
Main labor related characteristics: employment, unemployment, underemployment, hours of work, employment in informal sector, informal employment, and absence from work
Other labor related characteristics: industry, occupation, status in employment, institutional sector (public/private), size of establishment, full time/part time status, permanency of the job, type of workplace, duration of employment, existence of more than one job, characteristics of the second job(s), previous working experience, characteristics of the last job, methods of looking for work, reasons for not being in the labor force, business, hours worked, business registration
Housing conditions: type of housing unit, tenure, income.
Coverage
The survey was conducted nation-wide and covered all thirteen regions.
Whole population excluding the following groups: Persons living in institutions such as hospitals, hostels, barracks and prisons.
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare | Government of Republic of Namibia |
| Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) | National Planning Commission, Government of Republic of Namibia |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Central Bureau of Statistics | National Planning Commission | Technical Assistance |
Sampling
A stratified two-stage probability sample where the first stage units were geographical areas designated as the Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) and the second stage units were the households. The first stage units were selected from the sampling frame of PSUs and the second stage units were selected from a current list of households within the PSU, which was compiled just before the interviews for the survey.
The national sampling frame, which is maintained by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), is based on the enumeration areas (EAs) of the 2001 Population and Housing Census and the households within the EAs. One PSU could be an EA, Part of an EA or more than one EA. The frame was stratified first by regions and then by urban/rural areas within each region. PSUs in the urban areas were further stratified into the high, middle or low levels of living according to the geographical location and the level of housing. In the regions where these levels contain large number of PSUs separate strata were made, while in the other regions a combined list of PSUs ordered by the levels was made. In the rural areas large proclaimed settlements and villages were stratified separately while the others were combined with the communal area PSUs. Communal and commercial area PSUs were grouped separately and combined to form one list for the rural strata. After all the above groupings the PSUs were geographically ordered within the strata.
Of 5,975 households covered countrywide, 5,246 households responded. This gives an 87.8% response rate.
Sample data are weighted to produce the estimates of population parameters. Sample weights were calculated based on the probabilities of selection at each stage.
First stage weight was calculated using the sample selection information from the sampling frame. In the case of the second stage some households out of the selected 25 households in a PSU did not participate in the survey due to refusals or non-contact etc. Such non-responding households were not too large in number and there was no evidence to suggest that the excluded households were quite different from the responding ones. Hence it was assumed that the non-responding households were randomly distributed and the second stage weights were adjusted accordingly.
The result of this adjustment was that the responding households were used instead of the selected 25 households in the calculation of the second stage weights. The final sample weight was the product of the first and the second stage weights. These final sample weights were incorporated into the database so that raising the sample data would be automatically carried out when the tables were produced.
Survey instrument
In general the sections of the questionnaire are as follows:
Section A: Identification particulars of household
Section B: Information on all members of household
Section C: Education questions for those aged 6 years and above
Section D: Employment and labor questions for persons 10 years and above during the last 7 days (currently economically active or Labor force)
Section E: Employed for those who have worked the last 7 days or who had a job but did not work coded 1 in D1 or D2
Section F: Hours worked
Section G: Unemployed
Section H: Employees
Section I: Employers, Own Account Workers
Section J: Housing conditions
Section K: Control Section
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2008-10 | 2008-10 |
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare | Government of Republic of Namibia |
| Central Bureau of Statistics | National Planning Commission |
There is one supervisor for each of the 52 survey teams in the field.
With 25 sample households in each PSU, it was decided to establish teams consisting of four interviewers and a supervisor to handle the workload. As a rule, five PSUs were allocated to each team. However, in cases where travel distances between and within PSUs were too large, only three or four PSUs were allocated to the team. In total 52 teams were established. There were thus 52 supervisors and 208 interviewers required.
As in NLFS 2004, editing and coding of the questionnaires took place in regional centers. Each of the 13 regions was assigned two (2) editors/coders. Thus the total number of temporary field staff required (supervisors, interviewers and editors/coders) was 288. All were recruited from and worked on the survey in their own region.
Supervision was exercised at different levels. At the first level, the team supervisor was the immediate supervisor to the interviewers. At the next level was the regional supervisor who was in charge of all the fieldwork in the region and the editing and coding staff. Labor officers of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (MLSW) were appointed as regional supervisors. Finally, the national supervisor who was appointed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare was an overall supervisor for all activities within the allocated region.
A one-week training course was held in Windhoek for the team and regional supervisors. The training of interviewers and coders took place at five different centers at the same time to ensure uniformity. The team supervisors and the regional supervisors also assisted during the one-week training of interviewers.
The field operation consisted of two main activities: the listing of households in the sampled PSUs and interviewing the randomly selected households. The total time allocated for fieldwork was one month. The editing and coding process started about a week later than the fieldwork and ran in parallel. Questionnaires that required further clarification were identified during this process and handed back to the teams for follow-up with the concerned households.
Data processing
The editing and coding of the questionnaires were handled in the regional centers. This arrangement, proved to be efficient as many of the errors made by the interviewers were detected and corrected by them before the questionnaires left the regional centers. A further benefit was the improvement of the processing speed since this process ran parallel to the fieldwork.
Data appraisal
An average is in effect a ratio of two estimates, an estimate of the total and an estimate of the total number of units (households, individuals, etc.).
For more details on the sampling error estimation, see the Report on page 21.
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL |
|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare | Government of Republic of Namibia | www.mol.gov.na |
| Is signing of a confidentiality declaration required? | Confidentiality declaration text |
|---|---|
| yes | The data has been anonymized. But users agree: - Not to use any technique in an attempt to learn the identity of any person, establishment, or sampling unit not identified on public use data files. - To hold in strictest confidence the identification of any establishment or individual that may be inadvertently revealed in any documents or discussion, or analysis. Such inadvertent identification revealed in her/his analysis will be immediately brought to the attention of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. |
The dataset has been anonymized and is available as a Public Use Dataset. It is accessible to all for statistical and research purposes only, under the following terms and conditions:
- The data and other materials will not be redistributed or sold to other individuals, institutions, or organizations without the written agreement of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.
- The data will be used for statistical and scientific research purposes only. They will be used solely for reporting of aggregated information, and not for investigation of specific individuals or organizations.
- No attempt will be made to re-identify respondents, and no use will be made of the identity of any person or establishment discovered inadvertently. Any such discovery would immediately be reported to the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.
- No attempt will be made to produce links among datasets provided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, or among data from the Ministry of labor and Social Welfare and other datasets that could identify individuals or organizations.
- Any books, articles, conference papers, theses, dissertations, reports, or other publications that employ data obtained from the Ministry of labor and Social Welfare will cite the source of data in accordance with the Citation Requirement provided with each dataset.
- An electronic copy of all reports and publications based on the requested data will be sent to the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.
Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
- the Identification of the Primary Investigator
- the title of the survey (including country, acronym and year of implementation)
- the survey reference number
- the source and date of download
Example:
Ministry of labor and Social Welfare, Government of Republic of Namibia. Namibia labor Force Survey (LFS) 2008, Ref. NAM_2008_LFS_v01_M. Dataset downloaded from [url] on [date].
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | URL |
|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare | Government of Republic of Namibia | http://www.mol.gov.na/ |
Metadata production
DDI_NAM_2008_LFS_v01_M
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare | Government of Republic of Namibia | Documentation of the DDI |
2013-06-18
Metadata version
Version 02 (October 2015)
- Additional datasets provided
- Additional documents on external resources provided
Version 01 (June 2013)