The campaign, which will last for three months, comes sixteen years after the first survey was conducted in July 2005. More than five thousand households will be covered nationally by the second informal sector survey 2021-2022.
According to the newspaper "O País", the 2004-2005 informal sector survey revealed, among other information, that at that time 19,432 people worked in the informal sector in the country, with most of them concentrated in the central zone, with 8,182 people.
The same report also revealed that the informal sector is composed mostly of women and the incidence is in rural areas, with 12,959 against 6,472 in urban areas.
Meanwhile, sixteen years later, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) intends to update the data on who, how many, where, and what informal workers do in Mozambique.
The national director for Sector Statistics and Business at INE, Adriano Matsinhe, explains the reasons for the long interval between the first and the second survey.
"Ideally, this survey should be done every five years, but the economic climate has not allowed us to comply with the rule. During all this time we were knocking on doors in order to get financing for the project, but we didn't succeed. Fortunately, this time the World Bank opened its doors for us, so we will carry it out," he said.
The source also mentioned that throughout the country there are already 64 field agents, between inquirers and controllers, ready to visit the more than five thousand households.
"This is a sample survey. At the national level 482 neighborhoods were selected, to survey 5,600 households," the source said.
Running from October 5 to December 31, the implementation of INFOR 2021-2022 is supported by the World Bank.
"This survey will cost two million US dollars from our strategic partner, the World Bank. This is not the total cost, because it will not cover all expenses, with some expenses covered by the assets that INE has, such as vehicles and other crucial components for the execution of the work in the field".
More than just updating the data, INFOR (2021-2022) aims to contribute to the development of policies against child labor, an evil that tends to grow in the country.