Page 8 - Labour Market Information Bulletin - 2020 Volume 01

CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

01. Informal Advertisements : Advertisements published in the classified columns of the newspapers
02. Formal Advertisements : Advertisements published by enterprises with their own titles in the newspaper.

Following concepts and definitions used in the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, conducted by the
Department of Census & Statistics, have been used in this publication.

03. Labour Force : The labour force is composed of the economically active population of 15 years of age
and over.
04. The Economically Active population : Is defined as those persons who are/ were employed or unemployed
during the reference period of the survey.
05. Not in labour force (not economically active) : Persons who were neither working nor available/looking for
work are classified as “not in the labour force”. Persons are not in the labour force for such reasons as: full
time care of the household, full-time students, retired or old age, infirmed or disabled, or are not interested in
working for one reason or another.
06. Employed : Persons, who worked as paid employees,employers own account workers (self employed), or
unpaid family workers during the reference period are said to be employed. This includes persons with a job
but not at work during the reference period.
07. Unemployed : Persons available and/or looking for work, and who did not work and tried to find a job
during the reference period.
08. Employee : The person, who works for payment.
09. Employer : The person, who employs at least one paid employee under him
10. Own account worker : The person, who works for own or only with contributory family workers.
11. Unpaid family worker : The person who works on his own family enterprise without any payment.
12. Unemployment rate : Represent the number of unemployed persons as a percentage of the economically
active labour force.
13. Reference Period : In this survey there are two (2) reference periods, “current” reference period is the week
preceding the week of the survey, i.e., last week. The “usual” reference period preceding 12 months, i.e., the
past 12 months.

ABBREVIATIONS

NGO Non-Governmental Organization
GCE (O/L) General Certificate of Education (Ordinary Level)
GCE (A/L) General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level)
NEC Not Elsewhere Classified
ISIC International Standard of Industry Classification
SLSCO Sri Lankan Standard Classification of Occupation
EPF Employment Provident Fund
EPZ Export Processing Zone
IP Industrial Park
REDC Regional Economic Development Commission
BOI Board of Investment
NVQ National Vocational Qualification
RPL Recognition of Prior Learning
CBT Competency Based Training
NCECP National Certificate in Engineering Craft Practice
TVET Technical, Vocational Education and Training
QLFS Quarterly Labour Force Survey
LFPR Labour Force Participation Rate
NES Not Elsewhere Specified
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