There is a view that the number of employed people will see a larger increase in the October–November employment trend due to the population and housing census (census) being conducted this year. In particular, the employment rate of women in their 50s and older, who make up the majority of field interviewers, is expected to surge.
According to the National Data Office on the 31st, about 30,000 interviewers are being deployed for the ongoing census. Until the end of October, when online and phone surveys are underway, around 3,500 are working, and from November, when in-person surveys begin, all 30,000 will be deployed.
Among the roughly 26,500 in-person interviewers, the gender ratio is about 86% women and 14% men. By age, those in their 50s number about 11,000, accounting for 40% of the total. Those in their 60s and older number over 8,000, reaching 30%.
This means the share of those in their 50s and older among all interviewers exceeds 70%. They are followed by those in their 40s at 5,000 (20%), those in their 30s at 1,500 (6%), and those in their 20s at 1,000 (4%). Given the gender and population composition, there is a view that the employment rate of women in their 50s and older, whose labor force participation rate is relatively low, will be recorded as high.
Experts said caution is needed against an optical illusion effect from temporary job increases due to the census survey.
This is because the short-term hiring of 30,000 people is large enough to cause an optical illusion in employment statistics. The 30,000 people whose jobs are induced by the census correspond to 22% of the increase in the number of employed people in January, when the increase was the smallest this year at 135,000, and 9.6% of the increase in September, when it was the largest at 312,000.
Seok Byung-hoon, a professor in the Department of Economics at Ewha Womans University, said, "Short-term hiring of interviewers can have a positive impact on employment indicators, but this is far from structural improvement in employment," and added, "Policymakers should beware of an optical illusion effect."
According to the National Data Office, the scale of census hiring has decreased by about 70% compared with 15 years ago. In the 2010 survey, more than 110,000 interviewers were deployed, but advances in information and communications technology (ICT) and expanded sampling have significantly reduced the number of interviewers.
The method of interviewers conducting face-to-face surveys with paper questionnaires has also changed to using tablets. In the past, interviewers had to visit statistics offices set up at eup, myeon and dong offices to submit completed questionnaires, but now the questionnaires completed on tablets are transmitted online and compiled. As a result, instead of setting up separate statistics offices at eup, myeon and dong offices, the organization was streamlined by operating integrated offices at the si, gun and gu level.
The census is a basic statistical survey to determine the scale and characteristics of domestic and foreign nationals living in the country and the dwellings they live in. It is conducted every five years. This year marks the 100th year.
The survey runs from Oct. 22 to Nov. 18. Until the end of Oct., internet and phone surveys are conducted, and from Nov. 1 to 18, statistical interviewers visit households in person to conduct the survey.
Interviewers are paid about 80,000 won per day. Transportation expenses are provided separately. Field interviewers are said to receive about 1.7 million won after three weeks of work.