Continue only for persons aged 10 years or more
[Questions 13-19 were asked of persons age 10+.]
19. What was the person doing mostly in the last seven days?
[Asked of persons not active in any work in the last seven days in Question 15]
If other describe in the space provided.
[] 1 Housework
[] 2 Studying
[] 3 Waiting to start a new job
[] 4 looking for work
Not working because:
[] 5 Too young
[] 6 Too old/retired
[] 7 Sick
[] 8 Permanently disabled
[] 9 Other, describe ____
Economic questions
The economic questions are an important part of the census form. The economic questions for each person over 10 years are in Question 15 to 19.
The census provides the chance for us to find out what kind of work people do. Work that earns some income or helps to support the family, such as growing food, is called "economic activity". Some people are not economically active. On the information collected, community needs can be identified. Better plans can be in place.
Question 19. Non-economic activity
This question tells us what those who do not have jobs are doing.
Q19. What was the person doing most of the time in the last seven days?
01. Housework
02. Studying
03. Waiting to start work
04. Looking for work
Not working because05. Too young
06. Too Old/Retired
07. Sick
08. Permanently Disabled
09. Other (describe)
Who to ask: Ask the head of the household or the person responding.
Get this information for: All persons 10 years or more who had Code 7 (None) in Q15. This question is asked after Q18.
How to ask: "What was the person doing most of the time in the last seven days?"
How to record:
Enter one code only in the box provided.
If the person answers "other" (Code 9), write beside the box exactly what they did.
-All persons answering this question are not working, so their main activity will be a non-work activity. For the census, not working means not employed or not producing anything.
Codes 1 to 4 are non-work activities.
Codes 5 to 8 are reasons why the person was not economically active (Not working because...)
[]Housework includes cleaning, washing, cooking and child minding around the home for the family without pay. (So it is not an economic activity).
[] Cleaning, washing, cooking or child minding for someone else for pay would be counted in Q15 as a wage job. People who do a wage job should not be asked Q19.
[]Studying includes any type of formal or informal studying or training, provided it is the main activity. If the person is paid for studying by their employer they should be recorded as a wage job in Q15, and their usual job recorded in Q16 and Q17. People who are paid for studying should be asked Q19.
[] Waiting to start a job only includes the persons with a definite, arranged job to go to. Do not include persons who are only hoping to find a job.
-Some of the people who were looking for work (Code 1 in Q18) could have a different answer in Q19 because the period is shorter here (7 days). For example, some women may have looked for work in the last 4 weeks but their main activity in the last 7 days was Housework.
-Only use "looking for work" (Code 4) if the person actively tried to find a job -- i.e. answering advertisements, writing letters, asking people if they have work.
-Accept what the respondent says for Q19. For example, if they say a sixteen-year old is too young to work, we accept that.
[] Also, for "too old/tired", accept what the person says.
-It is important to find out if people are not working because they are sick as this tells us about health needs.
-Note again that only permanently disabled persons who do not have an economic activity are asked this question and recorded answers.
[] Only write "other" (Code 9) if you cannot put the person into one of the other categories.
-Give each person a code. Do not leave the code blank.
-For students home on holiday and not doing any economic activity, record their usual activity, which is student or studying.