Occupational situation in the month before the census

21. Occupation: What occupation or work did the person have during most of the last four weeks before the census? ____

These questions should be asked exclusively of the persons who have informed that they are seven years old or older.

Economic characteristics of the population

The questions oriented to find out which were the economic activities of the population (questions 19 to 26) will only be asked of persons who are seven years old or older. Therefore, for every child who is six years old or younger, you should make an X in the respective spaces across the columns.

Questions 19 to 26 are of great significance, and therefore we request that the enumerator pay the greatest attention possible to the instructions that are given on the following pages for filling them in.

The questions contained in this section of the form have a certain relationship to each other, and therefore, if you do not put special care in completing them, you run the risk of obtaining incompatible information that will cause enormous damage to the posterior process to which the form will be subjected.

In general, the research of the economic characteristics of the population will refer not to the day of the census, but to the month previous to the census, which will be from March 17th to April 17th, 1964.

Question 21: Occupation

In the blank space that is provided in this question, you should write the word or expression that clearly and amply describes the work type that the person did during the month before the census date (March 17th to April 17th, 1964). When the person had more than one occupation in that period, you should ask and note the principal occupation, which means the on that corresponds to the work where he or she obtained the highest income. In the case of obtaining equal income in several occupations, you should not the one that the enumerated person considers the most important. For persons who did not work in the reference period, but looked for work, you should write the occupation that corresponds to the last job or employment that he or she had. If the person cannot inform about a previous work because this is the first time that he or she is a jobseeker, you should write in the space for the questions 21 and 22 the words "has never worked", at the same time putting and large X across the corresponding column of question 23 (occupational position). If the person, despite having a job did not do it during the four last weeks before the census, due to illness, vacation, strike or any of the other reason already noted, you should note the occupation that corresponds to that job, as long as he or she has conserved it.

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In order for the information noted in this question to be useful, it is necessary specify, without doubt, the class of work or the nature of his or her duties, since in many cases, because there is no special name for the occupation, it will be necessary to describe it in a few words. For example: installer of aluminum blinds, prepares food for sale, etc.

You should not use generic words such as worker, laborer, day-laborer, operator, artisan, employee, apprentice, assistant, volunteer, supernumerary, office worker, salesman, counter clerk, agent, and other similar terms, since none of them indicate a definitive occupation; all are ambiguous words that in the majority of the cases only indicates a relationship between the person and the employer. When it is necessary to use these terms, you should add those words that clarify the situation of the persons as much as possible, for example: loading worker, highway laborer, carpentry apprentice, driver's assistant, etc.

In the case of laborers you should investigate the name of the corresponding occupation, such as assembler, saw operator, carpenter, floor installer. For office employees and office workers you indicate his or her occupation clearly: typist, filing supervisor, cashier, treasurer, accountant, etc.

The same should be done for commerce employees, for example: sales agent, counter clerk, servant, messenger, etc.

In the case of servants, you should indicate if the person is a cook, general housecleaner, nanny, etc.

For workers in agricultural activities, the term "farmer" should only be used for persons who have an agricultural venture under their care. Those who do general tasks in farms, should be noted as "agricultural workers" or as "share-croppers" if this were the case. In any case, if the person does a specific job (cowboy, shepherd, corral worker), it is appropriate to note the occupation with this same detail instead of having general and vague designations.

In the case of professionals, be aware that what you should note the occupation instead of the profession. Of course, it can occur that these coincide. For example, it is common that doctors, engineers, and lawyers work in their same profession; however, it is also frequent that a doctor be an administrator of a hospital, or that an engineer be the manager of a business; in these cases, the occupation of the person does not coincide with his or her profession. In these cases, it is evident that the occupation of the doctor is administrator and the occupation of the engineer is manager. For this reason, the enumerator should ask for the occupation, and in the case of professional, insist in determining if the profession and the occupation coincide. That is to say, if the doctor works as a doctor, the lawyer works as a lawyer, the engineer works as an engineer, since it can also be that these persons are dedicated to agriculture or the management of a business.