developed within the framework of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), have explored combinations of these approaches. They argue that stylized questions are more suited for activities that tend to follow a fixed schedule, whereas time diaries are more appropriate for activities that are not exceptionally salient nor follow a fixed schedule (e.g. agricultural labor) (Seymour et al., 2017).

# 4.2.1. Keyword questions

The first approach to determine whether a person is employed is a (single) keyword question. This approach is often used in short surveys such as population and housing censuses<sup>12</sup> and in surveys that do not aim to collect detailed labor market data such as the DHS (Fox & Pimhidzai, 2013). The defining characteristic of keyword questions is that they include a single keyword such as activity, work or occupation, and are not preceded or followed by probing and/or screening questions that define the keyword. The risk is that the keyword is not interpreted consistently by respondents, enumerators and data users. The best‐known example of this approach is the DHS questionnaire that includes a different keyword question for men and women. Since 2013 the question for men reads as _‘Have you done any work in the last seven days?’_ The women’s questionnaire includes the questions _‘Aside from your own housework, have you done any work in the last seven days?’_ as well as _‘As you know, some women take up jobs for which they are paid in cash or kind. Others sell things, have a small business or work on the family farm or in the family business. In the last seven days, have you done any of these things or any other work?’._

# 4.2.2. An activity list

The second approach uses an activity list, which consists of a complete list of jobs/activities that are common in the region. Some surveys, such as the Nepal LSMS survey, ask respondents to list all productive activities of the last 12 months. Other LSMS(‐ISA) surveys include a pre‐ specified list of activities. Such a list is not necessarily limited to strictly defined ‘productive’ activities but can also include activities such as domestic and care work or collecting water and firewood. Given the pre‐specified activity list, respondents report whether they engaged in any of these activities and, in some surveys, the time dedicated to these activities in a reference period (ILO, 2018e). Several authors have argued that a carefully prepared activity list is easily understood and allows capturing multiple job holdings as well as atypical employment (Langsten & Salen, 2008; Oya, 2013).

In practice, the use of a detailed activity list in the labor module is exceptional. Of all surveys reviewed, only a few (i.e. the 2014 Guatemala LSMS, the 2010 Nepal LSMS, the 2007 Nepal LFS and the 2013 Mali LFS) include a pre‐specified activity list. Moreover, this list is typically limited to unpaid domestic and care work, while work for pay and profit is measured with stylized questions. For instance, the 2014 Guatemala LSMS includes a list of questions such as _‘Yesterday, did you take care of animals?; Yesterday, did you make repairs to your dwelling of any type: electrical, plumbing, bricklaying, etc.?; Yesterday, did you clean the house?;_

> 12 For instance, the 2008 Malawi population and housing census included 7 questions about employment. The keyword question reads as ‘ _Aside from his/her own housework, did [name] work during the last 7 days?’._

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