paid work (ILO, 2013).<sup>4</sup> This restricted definition of employment means that seasonal and/or irregularly-paid jobs — which by recent ILO estimates across 110 countries constitute about 70 percent of employment in developing and emerging economies, with much of it in agriculture (ILO, 2018a)) — need to be elicited more carefully, so as not to be missed through standard survey approaches. A better understanding of issues around respondent selection and survey measurement is therefore critical, to better design policies that foster economic opportunities, along with monitoring SDG targets around small-scale agricultural and informal employment.<sup>5</sup>

# **3. Country Context and Data**

Malawi is a predominantly rural country situated in southeast Africa, with a little over half of its households below the national poverty line, and 20 percent living in extreme poverty (World Bank, 2019). Agriculture makes up 26 percent of the GDP and is a source of employment for 83 percent of Malawian households (Davis et al., 2017). A high share of households, particularly in rural areas, are engaged in seasonal economic activities, including _ganyu_ — the local term for shortterm, temporary, off-farm labor opportunities (Beegle et al., 2017).

Our analysis is informed by two surveys that were implemented concurrently by the Malawi National Statistical Office: the Fourth Integrated Household Survey (IHS4) 2016/17 and the Integrated Household Panel Survey (IHPS) 2016.<sup>6</sup> The IHS4 was a multi-topic, nationallyrepresentative, cross-sectional household survey that was conducted over the period of April 2016April 2017. The IHS4 followed the business-as-usual approach to individual-level labor data collection, which allows for (1) proxy respondents to be interviewed on behalf of unavailable respondents, and (2) any respondent, whether proxy or self, to be interviewed in group, non-private settings. The Integrated Household Panel Survey (IHPS), on the other hand, was the third wave of a multi-topic, national, longitudinal household survey that was implemented from April 2016 to January 2017. The IHPS attempted to interview each adult household member in private, as part

> 4 The ICLS, which meets every five years, affects how country labor force surveys — guided by the ILO — are designed and undertaken.

> 5 Relevant SDG targets include, for example, Target 2.3 to double the agricultural productivity and incomes of smallscale food producers by 2030, through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment; as well as Target 8.3 to promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage formalization and growth of micro-, small- and mediumsized enterprises including through access to financial services.

> 6 The data, questionnaires and basic information document for the IHS4 2016/17 can be accessed here: <u>https://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/2936. The data, questionnaires and basic information document</u> for the IHPS 2016 can be accessed here: https://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/2939. Both the IHS4 and IHPS were implemented with the technical and financial assistance from the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study – Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA). The implementation of the individual interviews as part of the IHPS was made possible by the technical and financial assistance from the World Bank LSMS Plus (LSMS+) initiative, which aims to improve in IDA countries the availability and quality of individualdisaggregated survey data on asset ownership, work and employment and entrepreneurship. For more information on the LSMS+, please visit: http://surveys.worldbank.org/lsms/programs/lsms-plus.

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