(12 years and over)

12. During the past 30 days did [the respondent] work for cash?

13. Then what did [the person] do during the last 30 days?

14. Occupation

What type of work did [the respondent] do?

A person's occupation depends on the tasks and duties which the person performs. Remember that if a person worked at all during the past 30 days, whether for cash or not, and for however short a period, then you should try to find out what kind of work the person did. You should try to get the respondent to give both a job title and a two- or three-word description of the tasks performed. For example, if a person states that he is a mechanic, ask him what he repairs. You might record his response (in the unshaded area of column A14) as follows: "mechanic, fixes cars 11 or "mechanic, fixes radios". If you need more space use the block which says "Probe as necessary" at the top of column A14. You may also use the comments block.

If a person moved from job to job you should enter the most recent occupation even if it only lasted for a day or two. This may happen with people who are casual labourers.

If a person has more than one occupation, record the one on which he/she spends the most time. However, if someone has a temporary job during the school holidays - but has a permanent job during term time, it is their permanent occupation that should be described. A census enumerator or supervisor who is a school teacher during term time must therefore be described as "Primary School Teacher" or "Secondary School Teacher".

Probing for Better Occupational Information: You will usually have to probe the respondent to get good information about a person's occupation. For example, people who make things (bread, clothing, pottery, wood objects, tools, beer, food products, furniture, bricks, etc.) should be asked how they make them. It is important to find out whether they mostly use their hands or hand-held
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tools, or whether they mostly produce these goods by operating machinery. A person who brews beer at home using traditional techniques belongs to a different occupational category than a person who operates a machine which ferments the grains used in making beer.

You should also probe when the information provided by the respondent does not seem reasonable. For example, if a person has only completed Form 4, it seems unlikely that he or she could be an auditor or an engineer. If you probe, you may discover that the person is actually an accounting clerk or an engineering assistant. Specific examples of how to probe for better occupational information are given on page 31.

In the sample questionnaire on page 26, the head of household works as a labourer in a mine, so "mine labourer" is written in the unshaded area under column A14. Anne, although she did not work for cash payment, did work in the lands as a farmer. The enumerator probed and found out that she was growing melons for family consumption. The response is recorded as "farmer" in the unshaded area under column A14, and the information obtained by further probing is recorded in the large block above as "grew melons for family consumption". The question does not apply to Mimi or to Molelo because they are under 12 years old, and it does not apply to Anthony because he is a student. Dashes are entered for them. David, who is self-employed, is a taxi driver, and that information is recorded in the unshaded area of column A14. Thembe has retired, so the question does not apply to her (a dash is entered).

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Specific examples of how to probe for better occupational information:

[Column headings:]
(A) Response
(B) Suggested probing questions

(A) Builder
(B) Does [the respondent] build using mostly traditional materials and techniques?

(A) Brewer
(B) Where and how does [the respondent] make the beer? (at home or elsewhere using traditional techniques, in a commercial brewery using machines)

(A) Carpenter
(B) What kinds of things does [the respondent] make or build? (furniture, door and window frames, wood frames for houses, etc.)

(A) Cleaner
(B) What does [the respondent] clean? (streets, houses, offices, shoes, clothes)

(A) Clerk
(B) Does [the respondent] work in an office mostly or does [the respondent] mostly deal with customers? What kind of clerk is [the respondent]? (stock, production, accounting, bookkeeping, statistical, finance, transport, library, filing, mail sorting, coding)

(A) Driver
(B) What does [the respondent] drive? (car, taxi, bus, van, combi, lorry, truck, tractor, bulldozer, excavator, grader, scraper, compactor)

(A) Electrician
(B) What kinds of things does [the respondent] repair? (cars, electrical wires in buildings, electrical power lines, electrical equipment or appliances, electrical machinery)

(A) Engineer
(B) Does [the respondent] have a college degree in engineering? What kind of engineer is [the respondent]? (chemical, civil, construction, electrical, electronic, telecommunications, mechanical, mining)

(A) Farmer
(B) Does [the respondent] produce mostly animals or crops? What kind of animals does [the respondent] raise? (livestock, poultry, other) Does [the respondent] raise the animals (or grow the crops) mostly to sell them or for family consumption?

(A) Foreman supervisor
(B) What kinds of workers does [the respondent] supervise? Does [the respondent] help those he or she supervises to do the work? If so, what kind of work is it?

(A) Gardener
(B) In what kind of garden does [the respondent] work? (private home, commercial farm, commercial nursery) Are the things grown in the garden mostly consumed by the household or sold?

(A) Labourer
(B) Where does [the respondent] work as a labourer? (construction site, mine, factory, shop, shipping company, railroad, airport, farm, forest)

(A) Machine operator
(B) What kind of machine does [the respondent] operate?

(A) Manager
(B) In what kind of organisation is [the respondent] a manager? (government, humanitarian organisation, hospital, retail shop, compru1y, factory, bank, etc.) Does [the respondent] manage a whole company or a department in the company? What department does [the respondent] manage? (production, operations, other)

(A) Mechanic
(B) What does [the respondent] fix? (cars, refrigerators, air conditioners, other machines or equipment)

(A) Painter
(B) What does [the respondent] paint? (buildings, ceramics, artistic pah1tings, wood, cars, metal, interior walls)

(A) Salesperson
(B) What does [the respondent] sell? Where does [the respondent] sell? (shop, kiosk, market, street, from home)

(A) Scientist
(B) What kind of scientist is [the respondent]? (chemist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, pharmacologist, botanist, zoologist, pathologist, agronomist)

(A) Security guard
(B) By whom is [the respondent] employed? (security firm, company, government, office, private individual, shop)

(A) Seller
(B) What does [the respondent] sell? Where does [the respondent] sell? (shop, kiosk, market stall, street, from home)

(A) Teacher
(B) At what level does [the respondent] teach? (pre-primary, primary, secondary, college, university, brigades, trade school, commercial school, computer academy)

(A) Technician
(B) What kind of technician is [the respondent]? (health, engineering, physical science, life science, computer, agronomy, forestry, veterinary)