Scope: 

Countries                         Belize

Geographic Coverage     Belize

Unit of Analysis               Household

Kind of Data                    Sample survey data [ssd]

Universe

The survey covered all de jure household members (usual residents), all women, men and children resident in the household.

 Added Modules              None

Questionnaires

Two sets of questionnaires were used in the survey: 1) a household questionnaire which was used to collect information on all de jure household members (usual residents), the household, and the dwelling; 2) an individual questionnaire administered in each household to all persons 14 years and older. The questionnaires included the following modules:

The Household Questionnaire included the following modules:

  • Household Information Panel
  • Household Listing Form
  • Education

The Individual Person Questionnaire included the following areas:

  • Individual Information Panel
  • Training
  • Employment
  • Occupation
  • Under employment

Study Parameters

Coverage of Study: 

About 5 percent of the sample frame, or 2,800 households, was included in the April 2018 LFS. Randomly sampled households were representative of urban and rural areas, including the cayes. The breakdown translates to a total of 112 clusters that were selected with 25 households within each cluster. Of the 112 clusters, 47 were urban areas, while 65 were rural areas.

In all, 2,264 households were successfully interviewed, producing a response rate of 93.3 percent. Note that final result codes with vacant dwellings, vacant lots, address not found, building under construction and other were excluded from the calculation of the response rate. Data was captured for a total of 5,958 persons 14 years and over: 2,904 men and 3,054 females.  Corozal district registered the highest response rate at 96.9 percent followed by Toledo district at 96.7 percent, while Belize district recorded the lowest at 87.4 percent.

Scope of Study:

Six trained field teams were responsible for conducting face to face interviews using Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) software capturing data digitally for a duration of four (4) weeks from April 8th to May 5th.  The CAPI software was first introduced in April 2016, making data processing of household questionnaires more automated.  Five coders/editors plus a supervisor thoroughly checked and coded each questionnaire after completion from the interviewers in the field. Final checks were performed by headquarter personnel for data quality. Needless to say, international standards were adhered to for coding and comparability purposes. The LFS captured demographic information of all persons in the household, with more in-depth questions for persons 14 years and over in the economic activity module.

Population under study:

The LFS April 2018 covers different aspects of the labour market, such as the labour force and the persons not in the labour force, the size and structure of Belize’s labour force, the hours usually worked, the demand for employment, the type of employment by sector and occupation, and other characteristics of the working age population who are employed, unemployed, or not in the labour force. The population is closely studied by sex, age, district, area, ethnic group and educational level.

Though the LFS captures information on the population as a whole, it concentrates on persons aged 14 years and over who are either in the labour force or not in the labour force. The labour force consists of persons contributing or willing and available to contribute to the production of goods and services. In other words, it is comprised of persons not working, wanting and available to work (i.e. the unemployed), and persons involved in some type of economic activity for at least one hour during the reference week (the employed). Among employed population are those persons who are self-employed (employers or own-account workers), persons working for the government, NGOs or a private institution or establishment, persons working for international organizations, and unpaid family workers. Persons who were temporarily absent from work due to vacation, maternity/paternity leave, illness, bad weather, or personal responsibilities are also classified to be working. Those persons who usually work less than 35 hours per week are classified as underemployed. Persons not in the labour force include persons who did not work, did not want to work, and were not available to work, for instance, housewives, full-time students, retirees, and the disabled who cannot work.