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Ivan Zhakata
Herald Correspondent
The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) is seeking to find out how Zimbabweans earn their living and get an indication of the percentages of households dependent on work in the formal sector and in informal sectors through a Quarterly Labour Force Survey being conducted in the first two weeks of next  month.

The survey is being conducted in selected enumeration areas across all the 10 provinces of Zimbabwe.

During the survey, trained Zimstat supervisors, team leaders and enumerators will be in the field interviewing a scientific sample of households and all will be carrying official identification letters.

Zimstat public relations and communications manager Mrs Mercy Chidemo said the questionnaire will be soliciting personal information from those in each household of the sample.

“The information for all persons staying in selected households including demographics, adult and child functioning, education, migration, employment and unemployment will be collected for the survey.

“Information on social security and job losses will also be collected,” she said.

Mrs Chidemo said the survey intends to produce key labour market indicators including the levels of formal and informal employment, unemployment and labour underutilisation.

Zimstat also want to be able to estimate the job losses that have occurred during the three months prior to the survey interview date.

“The survey data also feeds into the compilation of quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“The Quarterly Labour Force Survey is going to be conducted under the provisions of the Census and Statistics Act and information collected is strictly confidential and will be used for statistical purposes only.

“Zimstat seeks cooperation from all sampled households in the selected enumeration areas. More information about the survey can be obtained from Zimstat provincial statisticians in provincial offices across the country,” Mrs Chidemo said.

Last month, Zimstat conducted a household listing exercise in selected enumeration areas of Harare province to gain data on how many urban households are involved in agriculture so that this data can be added to the Agriculture and Livestock Survey.