Interviewer instructions
Column eleven - occupational status:
The reference period is the week preceding the census agent's visit to the household.
Occupational status is the connection between each person and economic activity within a determined time period.
This fundamental question allows the classification of the population into two categories: active and inactive.
a) Active
The active population includes those employed and those not employed but actively seeking employment.
- A person is considered employed if they have worked at least three days during the reference period. Record: OCC.
Attention:
Farmers and their family helpers are considered employed even if the reference week falls during a period of inactivity due to climate conditions. For example after a harvest, a farmer that carries out no activity should still be considered as employed.
- Workers that are sick, on vacation or laid-off during the reference period are also considered employed; a person who already works and is in training during the census counting is also considered employed.
- A person is considered not employed but actively looking if they did not work at all or worked less than three days during the reference period, but who are searching for employment. Two categories are distinguished:
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- Persons who worked previously but lost their job and are looking for employment during the reference period. For this category, record: CHO.
- Persons who have never worked, that is to say persons who are searching for their first job. For this category, record: QUE.
b) Inactive
Inactive persons are those that follow within the following classifications:
- Persons taking care of the household: POF
- Students: ETU
- Retired persons: RET
- Stockholders: REN
- Sick persons: INV
- Other inactive persons: AUT.
Some precisions
- Persons taking care of the household (POF):
These are persons of either sex that are not exercising any form of economic activity (neither agricultural, artisanal nor commercial), and who perform household tasks at their place of residence, such as housewives or family members taking care of the household and the children. However, domestic workers that receive remuneration should be classified as employed because they are part of the active population.
Attention: In rural areas, a woman that takes part in cultivation or livestock farming as well as performing household duties is employed.
- A wife that aids her husband or another household member in their profession or performs a paid activity (dying, cutting/styling hair, pottery) is considered employed, even if she also takes care of the household.
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- A woman who, for example, goes to the market in the morning to sell produce or other products and then returns to do housework is also considered employed.
- Students (STU):
A person of either sex is in this category if they perform no economic activity and frequent an establishment of private or public education to receive schooling at any level.
For persons in this category, refer to the situation of the person during the 1985/1986 school year.
For persons taking night or literacy classes, the following situations may arise:
- The person has a job they attend during the day. They should be recorded as employed.
- The person does not have a job. They should be recorded as CHO, QUE, POF, etc. based upon their situation.
- Retired (RET):
A person of either sex is in this category if they perform no economic activity and their resources come principally from a pension, state-funded or otherwise, resulting from previous activity.
If a person claiming to be "retired" performs an economic activity that earns them more money then their pension, this person should be considered employed.
- Stockholder (REN):
A person is in this category if they perform no economic activity and their primary resources come from placement of funds and assets, notably real estate.
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- Sick persons (INV):
A person of either sex is in this category if they have a physical or mental illness that prevents them from working. Nevertheless, sick persons who work should be classified as employed.
- Other inactive persons (AUT):
An inactive person of either sex is in this category if they perform no economic activity and are not classified in any of the categories mentioned above. Classified in this category in particular are children older than 10 years of age who do not attend school and are not economically active, and elderly persons who no longer work and have no pension or personal fortune and depend on the charity of family or others.
N.B.: Every person 10 years of age and older must have an occupational status recorded in column 11.
