KEY GENDER ISSUES IN KEY GENDER ISSUES IN LABOUR MARKET AND LABOUR MARKET AND PRODUCTION OF LABOUR PRODUCTION OF LABOUR STATISTICS IN MALAWISTATISTICS IN MALAWI

Household Surveys and Measurement of Labour Force with

Focus on Informal EconomyUNSD Workshop in collaboration

with ILO, ECA and SADCMaseru, Lesotho14-18 April 2008

BYMedson Makwemba

Structure of presentationStructure of presentationIntroductionCollection of labour StatisticsProduction of Labour StatisticsKey Gender Issues Gender gaps in labour StatisticsChallenges in production of

gender statDissemination of Gender statisticsWay forward

Malawi: National Statistical Office 2

Introduction Introduction National Statistical Office is a

government Department mandated to:◦Collect◦Publish and◦Disseminate official statistics to policy

makers, researchers and the general public for informed decision making and general public awareness

The law governing its operations is the 1967 Statistical Act (currently under review)

Malawi: National Statistical Office 3

IntroductionIntroductionThe NSO has the following divisions:

◦ Agriculture Statistics◦ Demography and Social Statistics◦ Economic Statistics and◦ Publication and Information

It has also supporting units such as: ◦ Support and Technical Services◦ Administration and Human Resource

Development The has Statistical Units within other

Government department

Malawi: National Statistical Office 4

Collection of labour Collection of labour StatisticsStatistics Demographic and Social Statistics is responsible for

collection of labour statistics mainly through: Labour Force Survey - The first labour force was done in 1983

of which its results were not published (It is planed to develop anew LFS)

Population census (10 years) Demographic and health Surveys (4 years)

Economic Division collects labour statistics through: Integrated Household Surveys Annual economic Survey Business Information Register

Agriculture Division collects labour statistics through:

National Agriculture Censuses (10 years) Welfare monitoring survey Environmental statistics

Statistical Common Service also collects information on labour statistics for example Ministry of labour

Malawi: National Statistical Office 5

Production of Labour Production of Labour StatisticsStatisticsNSO follows the following strategies to produce statistics

It actively seeks views from data users It formalizes and assesses the needs of

users in each area of statistics It has established working groups with

data users and produces subject matter from other institutions

It has established data enquiry points to deal with specific data request within the NSO and National Statistical System (NSS) Malawi: National Statistical Office 6

Key Gender IssuesKey Gender IssuesInequality in the access to

education and employmentThe control and use of resources

within householdsDivision of labour in households

and subsistence agricultureLack of empowerment both in

public and private sector

Malawi: National Statistical Office 7

Gender gaps in labour Gender gaps in labour StatisticsStatisticsBecause of lack of consistent framework on gender statistics, various publications do not reflect a consistent gender disaggregated data

Reports that are produced have minimal data analysis with gender distinction

Malawi: National Statistical Office 8

Challenges in Production of Challenges in Production of Gender StatisticsGender StatisticsLack of development tools to

measure and integrate gender statistics in National Statistical System

Lack of capacity of national expertsLack of financial resources to allow to

measure and generate gender statistics

Same of the data is outdated and may not reflect the true picture about labour force situation

Malawi: National Statistical Office 9

Dissemination of Gender Dissemination of Gender statisticsstatistics

Gender Statistics are disseminated through various means such as:◦Detailed tables in printed publications◦Through Official website (

http://www.nso.malawi.net)

◦Electronic media (CDs etc)◦User dissemination workshops and through the media

Malawi: National Statistical Office 10

Way ForwardWay ForwardCurrently Malawi is working on

formulation of Labour Force Survey where key labour market issues with be addressed

It has revised its Annual Economic Survey questionnaire to include labour market statistics disaggregated by gender

It is working on Business Information Register where employment information will be gathered

Malawi: National Statistical Office 11

THANK YOU FOR LISTENINGZIKOMO

Malawi: National Statistical Office 12