Cuba to conduct national employment survey in second semester

Cuba will carry out the National Occupation Survey in the second half of this year, covering a sample of 60,000 homes, after two years of pause in these studies due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

M.Sc Carlos Alfonso Fraga, deputy head of the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), told Prensa Latina that the research will yield results by territory and at the country level, for working ages between 17 and 64 for men and 17 and 59 for women.

It will be essential for the elaboration of public policies and the adoption of concrete measures by the Ministries of Labor and Social Security (MTSS), the Ministry of Economy and researchers and academic centers, the specialist pointed out.

Regarding the indicators to be measured, he pointed out that the survey will determine how many people work and how many do not, age, skin color, province, educational levels, prospects of Cubans regarding employment, among others.

“There are continuous statistics from the government sector that show a redistribution of work with the approval of the new non-state economic actors in the country,” he asserted as another aspect to take into account.

However, of more than 571,000 self-employed workers in Cuba, only 29 percent of them are young and not just business owners, he said.

Another characteristic of the occupation in Cuba derived from the pandemic is the increase in remote employment, he said, adding that this requires regulations to make it more effective so that people who today need to care for a small child or a sick person can access a job.

According to the specialist, the results of the last survey revealed “low unemployment, an aging workforce, a decrease in the economically active population, an increase in retirees and pensioners, and a high presence of people who do not want to work,” data that must be taken into consideration by relevant agencies.

At the time of the study, of 3,377,800 women of working age, 1,853,700 were active, for a rate of 54.9 percent, the 2020 report showed.

In reference to the unemployed, the figures from the ONEI and the MTTS showed that they total 66,200 citizens, for an unemployment rate of 1.4 percent.

The Office will resume other national surveys this year, such as the fertility survey, which started on Friday throughout the country, and the economic situation of households, which will also provide other innovative data, Fraga said.