1. Harmonizing Labour Statistics
Marwan Khawaja
UN-ESCWA
Beirut, Lebanon

2. Outline Overview of current situation
UN-ESCWA experience
Data sources
Some challenges in harmonizing LF data

3. Analytic Framework (ILO) – still valid??

4. Arab Society – a compendium of social indicators
A bi-annual regular publication
Based mainly on data from NSOs
A large questionnaire is sent in March to NSO for completion
A descriptive portrait of Arab society – covering essentially the same set of topics as MEDSTAT: Population, health, employment, education, housing, household budget (poverty et al.), crime, and culture
One thematic topic in each issue – employment 2011; education 2013
Comparative in nature – but thematic topic is presented as country profiles
A core set of indicators – based on availability of quality data
Not yet agreed upon by member countries

5. Labor/Employment items (from LFSs):
Labor force participation rate (age 15+)
Youth labor force participation rate (age 15-24)
Unemployment rate (age 15+)
Youth unemployment rate (age 15-24)
Employment status (age 15+)
Employment by economic activity (age 15+)
Employment by economic sector (age 15+)
Employment by main occupations (age 15+)
All by nationality/citizenship (if applicable) & sex

6. Responses
2011 -
7 out of 13 countries: Egypt, Jordan Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, & UAE.
2013 –
So far: 7 out of 17 countries: Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Qatar, Iraq & Jordan.
Data on all indicators requested – inconsistencies in some variables e.g., occupation (armed forces) and sector

7. Data sources
All countries (save Lebanon) have had 1-2 censuses since 1990
Limited labor force data & slightly different definitions (reference period)
Most have LFS or household surveys with labor force questions
E.g. Lebanon: living conditions survey and post-war living conditions survey (‘07) included a module on labor force
Lack of longitudinal LF surveys (except Egypt & Jordan –ERF’s LMPS)
Limited use of administrative data
Problems:
Lack of time series in most countries
Incomparability of data collected :
Different years & slightly different definitions/standards (ISCO)

8. Issues of comparability & data quality
Discrepancies in definitions/concepts (re ILO standards)
E.g., economically active -
Consistency with ILO, but still not strictly comparable
Looking for work (reference period: 1 month, last wk etc)
Lack of data
Incomplete series for variables collected
No data on some important variables (e.g., informal, hours of work, wages)
Different classifications
Occupation (ISCO vs. Arab league) & Industry
Status in employment, background variables e.g., education
Tabulation – questions sequence
Occupation/industry for economically active OR only employed

9. Issues of comparability (II)
Survey design
Seasonality: A cross section (annual) vs. Continuous (quarterly)
Missing data (due to respondent burden re rotated samples?)
Geographic coverage (whole country vs. part – due to wars etc)
Population coverage (civilian vs. total; Bedouin)
+ citizens vs. total resident population
Different reference period for some definition
Worked (last week, day, month)
Looking for work (last week, last month, last day)
Different age groups (re rates)
15 and older vs /65 vs. 10 and older
Comparability across survey years
Changed definitions or survey design etc.

10. Other challenges re harmonization
Budget constraints
In conducting a regular (yearly) labor force survey (Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan)
Dissemination of data
Collected survey data are partially published
Lack of metadata – for some countries
Lack of micro data files – for public use
Almost all countries except Palestine, Tunisia
DIQA -

11. DIQA initiative A one year pilot project
With the World Bank & ILO
So far, 5 countries are participating
Egypt, Kuwait, Palestine, Tunis and Morocco (Yemen was invited but did not confirm)
Focus on LFS data – HIES later on ..

12. Thank you!