Only for individuals 15 years of age and older

19. In which of these activities did [the respondent] spend the most time during the last week?

8.2. Definition of work.

For the purposes of the census, work is considered to be:

1. Paid work completed by another person in the capacity of employee or other (salaried), which includes

[p. 90]

a. Daily work or regular salary

b. Work for pay "in kind" (food, shelter, or provisions received in place of cash).

c. Work paid by the piece, commissions, or tips

d. Active duty in the Armed Forces.

2. Work for own business, professional practice, or as an independent worker (on own-account).

3. Work without pay in a business or farm administrated by a relative (e.g. a child who works without pay in the father's store), for more than 15 hours per week.

4. Part-time work: any work completed during the last week paid in money, for example, after leaving school, Saturdays, or any other part-time work even when having only worked a few hours. This includes work such as dressmaking or other jobs completed in the home for other persons or enterprises with payment of clothing or food, work completed in the family business or family farm and other similar jobs.

Be aware that thousands of housewives, students or elderly persons, who apparently do not work, complete activities that produce monetary income, which is also considered to be work.

[p. 91]

8.3. Not counted as work:

1. Tasks done in the home, such as housework (except for domestic employees with or without pay), individual tasks for other relatives without remuneration and work completed at the person's own home (such as cutting the grass, painting walls, the floor, etc.).

2. Volunteer work without remuneration for the Church, the Red Cross, or other charity organizations.

3. Work completed by institutional inmates or prisoners (prisons, sanatoriums, welfare institution, penal colonies), not including the regular workers who are considered to be working.

8.4. Active population (workforce).

The workforce or active population is made up of two groups: employed or unemployed

a) Employed persons are:

1. Those who were working the week prior to the census,

2. Those who, if not working during the week prior to the census, had work, employment or a business from which they were temporarily absent for all or part of the week due to sickness, vacation, labor dispute, weather, problem in the factory, etc.

b) Unemployed persons are:

Those who were unemployed but looking for work during the week prior to [p. 92] the census. Also those who were looking for work for the first time during the reference week or during the last month.

8.5. Persons not in the workforce.

Those not in the workforce are the persons who are not in the categories or employed or unemployed; this group is subdivided into students, housewives, disabled persons, retirees, prisoners or inmates in institutions, rentiers, and other non-workers such as retirees or those who are voluntarily idle.

8.6. Reference week

"Reference week" or "last week" as mentioned in the questionnaire is defined as the complete calendar week, Sunday to Saturday, preceding the week of enumeration. The week in which the interviews take place is called the "interview week".

Interviewers should begin the interviews on the Monday of the interview week.

8.7. To which of the following activities did [the respondent] dedicate most of the last week (Q - 19)?

Question 19 is meant to begin the interview and to sound out the person's principal activity during the last week. That is, whether the person was working, looking for work, [completing] household duties, [p. 93] attending school, [in] another situation, or if the person was unable to work [disabled].

Mark only one box for each person.

Remember that some who carry out household duties (housewives), especially in rural areas, and those who work part-time, are looking for work, or are working for pay within the home in urban areas do not consider themselves to be part of the workforce or to be economically active. For the purposes of the census, they may or may not be in the workforce in the first case. Therefore, it should be insisted that questions 20-25 be answered when interviewing women. The same situation applies to students, rentiers and pensioners, or retirees.

8.8. Employment.

The "0" box is marked for the person who claims to have been working the last week for a salary or pay in-kind, which includes:

8.9. Did not work but is employed.

Mark the first box (1) for the person who, even though employed, was absent from work during all or most of the reference week because of reasons such as sickness, vacation, inclement weather [p. 96] labor dispute, strike, etc.

Definition of employment. Employment exists when there is a definitive agreement to fulfill a regular job for which a wage will be received. This includes agreements for part-time or full-time work. A formal, definitive agreement with one or more employers to work a specified number of hours per week or days per month is also considered to be employment even when the weekly or monthly schedule is irregular.

Nevertheless, a person who is called for work only when their services are needed is not considered to be employed. This is an example of people who are "in service" but who are generally not considered to be employed. E.g. substitute teachers, substitute telephone operators, substitute mail carriers, and cooks or waiters in the service of an agency that provides such services.

During the periods when these persons are not really working they should be classified as either out of the workforce or as looking for employment, according to the answer given.

Seasonal employment is only considered to be employment during the season and not outside of that time period.

8.10. Looking for work - Unemployed.

Mark the second box (2) if the person was trying to find [p. 97] a new job, because of unemployment, or beginning a business, occupation or profession in the week before the census. Accept the answer if the person claims to have been looking for work. If the person is in doubt as to what it means to be looking for work, use this explanation: those "looking for work" are trying to obtain an employment or to establish themselves with a business or profession during the reference week or in the last month.

Looking for work includes the following types of attempts to obtain employment or to start a business:



If a person lost employment and is not looking for work, do not mark the second box (2), rather mark the last one (other situation) unless the person is in another activity. A person, for example, who looked for work [p. 98] 6 months ago and has not made any more attempts is not considered to be looking for work. Do not mark the second box (2), rather mark box 9. On the other hand, if the person looked for work 2 or 3 weeks ago or less than 2 month ago and is waiting, or not, for an answer, the second box should be marked.

Remember that a person who has lost employment and does not want to work is not considered to be looking for work. Do not mark the second box (2), mark box 9.

8.11. Household duties.

Mark the third box (3) for those who have been principally occupied with tasks in their own home during the reference week. This box is also marked for those, usually women, who indicate that their principal activity has been to tend to household duties except for periods of temporary absence or sickness.

Note that this classification usually applies to women but it can, in some cases, apply to a man. Be aware that domestic employees are considered to be working and do not fall into this category even while participating in this type of activity, with or without cash remuneration. This applies when the work takes place in another home or in a commercial or service establishment.

This type of work is not exclusively [p. 99] cooking, washing, or cleaning. This classification applies to any person who claims to have spent the majority of the reference week directing, or being responsible for the home and for any person who claims that their principal activity is taking care of [their own] children.

More than one person can fall into this category in a household. E.g. a mother and daughter who share in the responsibility of the household duties and childcare are both classified under "household duties".

8.12. Studying.

Mark this box for the person who spent the majority of the reference week attending any type of public, religious, or private (internal or external) school or any other type of educational institution including technical schools (vocacionales) where the students do not receive any type of monetary or in-kind compensation. Mark this box if the person would have attended school if it were not for a sickness or brief vacation such as Christmas, Carnival, or Holy Week.

However, many students may also be working part or full time during breaks, at the end of courses, or they may be looking for work at the time of the census. In this case the person may fall into the category of box (0) or box (2).

[p. 100]

8.13. Rentier.

Mark the fifth box (5) for a person who receives income, not from working, but from interest or from participation in corporate profits through capital investments, real estate, etc., without completing any other management/effort except for the receipt of the corresponding amounts, generally through a third party. This does not include regular lenders or investors and landowners who directly manage their interests or properties - these are considered employed.

8.14. Pensioner or retiree.

Mark the sixth box (6) for those, of any age or sex, who live exclusively from a pension received because of widowhood, orphanhood, physical disability, scholarship, or any other type of subsidy such as retirements from work after reaching a certain age or number of years of service in the occupation (retired military, etc.). This only applies when there is no other activity that could classify the person into another group; e.g. those who work or look for work.

8.15. Institutionalized or imprisoned.

Mark the seventh box (7) for those imprisoned/institutionalized permanently, indefinitely, or long term, in a welfare institution such as mental hospitals, leprosy clinics, oncology clinics, and similar institutions; penal facilities, religious cloisters [p. 101] etc. This also applies when the person participates in a productive activity within the institution (e.g. prisoner's work, blind person's work, etc.).

Excluded from this category are those temporarily institutionalized in medical establishments (hospitals, clinics, etc.) or those detained temporarily by the police. These people correspond to one of the previous categories and will reintegrate into that category after recovering from the illness or regaining their liberty.

8.16. Unable to work [disabled].

Mark the eighth box (8) for the person who could not complete any type of work during the reference week due to a disability, physical or mental illness, or age.



[p. 102]



8.17. Other situation.

Mark this box for those persons whose activity does not fall into any of the above criteria.
Examples of this include: