Notes
On the census questionnaire, a migrant worker was defined as ‘Someone who is absent from home for more than a month each year to work or to seek work’. The interviewer’s instructions further clarified that the month did not have to be continuous: ‘A person away from home who returns home every weekend is regarded as a migrant worker providing that the total period away from home is a month or more.’
Although the question was asked in respect of all persons, those under 15 were set to ‘Not applicable’ in line with all other employment-related variables. It is not possible to determine conclusively whether a migrant worker was enumerated at the place they consider home or the place they have migrated to for work. However, the questions on usual residence and district of employment may be of some use.
The data from this question was also used to derive the household variable indicating whether any migrant workers were present in the household (Migrant workers present in hhold). Complementary information was obtained from the question for each household on whether there were any people who were absent from the household because they were migrant workers (Migrant workers absent from hhold).
