Transcript 1-2 survey - United Nations Economic and Social Commission for

Development Account Project on the IS:
implementation of the ‘1-2 Survey’
in the ESCWA region
Giovanni Savio, Statistics Division, UN-ESCWA
Expert Group Meeting on National Accounts
Cairo, 12 – 14 May 2009
Scheme of presentation
1. General overview
2. Project on “Interregional Cooperation on the
Measurement of Informal Sector and
Informal Employment”
3. Activities carried out in Pilot Countries
4. Outcomes, lessons learned and future steps
UN Regional Commissions
Budgetary Issues

Budget of RCs from the following sources
1. Regular Budget
2. Regular Program for Technical Cooperation
3. Extra Budget (i.e. DA Projects)

DA projects aim at capacity-building through
sub-regional, regional and inter-regional
Technical Cooperation for developing countries

Implemented as individual projects aimed at
achieving distinct development impacts
Project Facts
 Overall Budget: $ 800,000
 Duration: 4 years, 2006 - 2009
 Implementing agencies: ECLAC, ESCAP
(leading agency), ESCWA
 ESCWA budget: $ 179,000
 Steering Committee: UNSD, Regional
Commissions, ILO and Delhi Group
Project Countries
ESCWA
ESCAP
ECLAC
Reasons for DA Project


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Informal sector (employment & contribution to
GDP) mostly not covered in official statistics
Consequence: lack of exhaustivity
Data collection typically based on ad hoc
studies (i.e. not part of regular collection
system) and with limited scope/coverage
Data collected not internationally comparable
Consequence: lack of coherency over time and
across areas
Finally, poor analysis and dissemination
Reasons for DA Project
REGION
Contributions of informal sector as %
of non-agricultural …
Employment
GDP
Northern Africa
48
27
Sub-Saharan Africa
72
41
Latin America
51
29
Asia
65
31
Source: ILO (2002), Women and Men in the Informal Sector: A Statistical Picture
Reasons for DA Project
Informal Sector (Production)
• Significant underestimation of GDP
• Lack of info on characteristics of
informal sector enterprises, use of
technology, access to credit, training,
markets, etc.
• Lack of info on input-output relations
between formal and informal sector
enterprises
Informal Sector (Employment)
• Implausibly low labor participation rates,
especially for women
• Lack of info on differentials in earnings
and working conditions between
formal/informal employment (poverty)
• Lack of info on different social protection
arrangements covering formal/informal
employment
Weaken the formulation,
implementation and evaluation of
policies and programmes aimed at
promoting gender equality,
eliminating child labour,
generating decent work for all and
reducing poverty
Objectives and Instruments
Overall Goal
Improve the availability of informal
sector and informal employment
data
1. Raise awareness among
stakeholders (NSOs, the
Governments etc.) of developing
countries on importance of
collecting and disseminating data
on informal sector
2. Improve technical capacity of
NSOs to collect, compile,
analyze and disseminate data
on informal economy in line
with international methods and
standards
B. Capacity building
A. Advocacy
D. Data analysis &
Dissemination
C. Data collection
E. Knowledge
management
Strategy of the Project
 Partnership approach (RCs and other entities),
and …
 … integration as far as concerns:
 Scope, coverage, definitions etc.
 Activities carried out
 However, adaptation of activities to the level of
development of the NSSs
 Coordination with national and global statistics
initiatives
 Consistency with international standards (e.g.
2008 SNA, Delhi Group, ILO etc.)
Expected Outcomes
 Raise awareness in stakeholders (concern on
funding and sustainability of the approach for the
future)
 Data on informal employment and informal
sector GDP
 Country reports on:


“1-2 Survey” methodology and its implementation
“1-2 Survey” data analysis
 Dissemination
Sketch of Approach
Unifying definition of the IS (XV ICLS Res.)
1. Household Sector
2. Unincorporated enterprises owned by households
3.a Own-account enterprises
3.b Enterprises of employers
4. Informal sector
enterprises
1. Size
2. Registration
3. Others
Sketch of Approach
Unifying definition of the IS (XV ICLS Res.)
Informal own-account
enterprises
Other own-account
enterprises
Own-account
enterprises
(1)
Enterprises of informal
employers
Informal sector
Other enterprises of
employers
(2)
Enterprises of
employers
Criteria: size, registration,
others
Sketch of Approach
 Concretely, how to go from step 3 to 4?
 Problems undermining comparability and coherence
of IS estimates, for example:

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Registration requirements change over time, across
countries and often registration is made with more entities
In some countries all units should be registered with tax
authorities
Registration criterion reduces response rate and quality
Registration of enterprise vs employees
Cut-off size of employees may change over time, across
countries (i.e. different levels of technology), may refer to
empl. on continuous basis or total empl. or empl. observed
in the reference period, and may depend on legislation and
statistical considerations
Sketch of Approach
 Main dilemma: trade-off between flexibility and
comparability
 The flexibility in delineating the IS according to ICLS
Resolution hampers comparability of outcomes
across countries and over time. However, flexibility
in the adaptation of the criteria is an important
characteristic
 Main features of the Unified Data Collection Strategy
for the Informal Sector (UDCS-IS)
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Expanded scope of data collection, and flexibility expost non ex-ante (comparative analysis on criteria)
Coherency with international recommendations
Comprehensiveness (all areas, activities etc.)
Sketch of Approach
Household Enterprises
Producing at least some goods & services
for market
Non-agricultural
Formal
sector
Informal
sector
Agricultural
Formal
sector
Informal
sector
Producing goods & services only
for own final use
Goods
Services
Agriculture,
forestry, fishing
Paid domestic
services
Other activities
Owner
occupied
dwelling
services
HUEMs, starting point for Phase 2 data collection. Blue area, after (3)
screening criteria applied in the LFS
Sketch of Approach
 HUEM1: Legal organization

Production units that are not constituted as separate
legal entities independently of their owners
 HUEM2: Book-keeping or accounting practice

Production units that do not keep a complete set of
accounts
 HUEM3: Product destination

At least some of the products are sold/bartered in the
market
Sketch of Approach
 Data colleted through variant of mixed
household-enterprise survey called ‘1-2 Survey’
 First phase: Household Survey, on which the
sampling frame for the second phase is made

Possibly build upon existing surveys with small
changes, preferably LFS (extended)
 Second phase: Enterprise Survey

Designed as a household-enterprise independent
module based on outcomes of the extended LFS
Sketch of Approach
Activities Completed
 Participation in the ESCAP Workshop on
Informal Employment and Informal Sector Data
Collection: Strategy, Tools and Advocacy,
Bangkok, September 2007
 ESCWA Workshop on Informal Employment and
Informal Sector Data Collection: Strategy, Tools
and Advocacy for PCBS staff, with participation
of Jordan DoS, Amman, April 2008
 Signature of ESCWA-PCBS LoA to participate in
the DA Project as Pilot Country, June 2008
Activities Completed
 August 2008: Pilot “1-2 Survey” carried out by
PCBS in West Bank
 September 2008: ESCWA Advisory mission to
study results of the Pilot Survey
 September 2008: Preparation for the Survey
(training)
 October 2008 - March 2009: Conduct of the “1-2
Survey” in West Bank and Gaza Strip
PCBS LFS and ‘1-2 Survey’
 Quarterly LFS carried out by PCBS since 1995
 Last survey samples based on 1997 Census
updated in 2003
 About 7,500 households interviewed each
quarter, questionnaires completed about 6,000
each quarter
 “1-2 Survey”: Carried out during Q4, 4 October –
31 December 2008 on
 11,338 households (7,644 in West Bank, 3,694 in
Gaza Strip)
PCBS LFS and ‘1-2 Survey’
 Due to war, only 70% of Gaza sample was
interviewed (2,553 over 3,694)
 Phase 2, before war: 735 HUEMs found in West
Bank, 163 in Gaza Strip interviewed
 Second Round, after war: Completed collection
for Gaza Strip, extended the sample in the same
region to Q1 2009
 Final results expected by mid-April 2009
 Second advisory mission of ESCWA to PCBS:
end of April 2009 to analyze results
Activities Planned
ESCWA Timeline of Activities (Revised January 2009)
Quarter
Year
Responsible
Advocacy/Dissemination Workshops
1
Customize workshop design and produce materials
Q3
2009
2
Conduct of advocacy/dissemination workshop in country
Q4
2009
3
Preparation and submission of reports on workshop
Q4
2009
ESCWA - PCBS
Data Collection
1
Data collection in Palestine
2
Prepare and submit final reports on data collection
Q4 2008 - Q1 2009
Q2
2009
PCBS
PCBS
Data Editing, Analysis and Dissemination
1
Data checking and editing, preparation of dataset for analysis
Q1
2009
2
Preparation of tables
Q2
2009
3
Generation of estimates of informal employment and employment in the
IS and national accounts and related country reports
Q3
2009
4
Country report on analysis of 1-2 Survey data for dissemination
Q3
2009
5
Development of country database
Q3
2009
ESCWA - PCBS
Training Workshops
I. Workshops for project country
1
Interregional Workshop for Sharing Results and Project Evaluation
Q3
2009
All RCs and
PCBS
II. Workshops for project country and other countries in the region
1
Regional Workshop on the Measurement of the Informal Sector and
Informal Employment
ESCWA, PCBS
and other
Q2
2009
Q4
2009
Knowledge Management
1
Prepare country report
ESCWA - PCBS
Lessons learned (so far)
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Consistency with international recommendations
Great flexibility and adaptability
Ex-post analysis and identification of IS
Expanded scope
Easy applicability, reduced costs for collecting
information
 Information gathered possibly for use in various
socio-economic studies and analyses
 Reliability of final results
 Ambition: extend application to other countries in
the region