Transport, storage and mail

1 – 2: Survey Objectives

The survey aims to provide the following data:

1. Number of establishments and vehicles.
2. Workers’ compensation such as; salaries, wages and benefits in kind and cash.
3. Value of gross production and intermediate consumption.
4. Measuring the size of capital invested and capital formation.
5. Estimating the contribution of transport, storage and postal activities to the GDP.
6. Other data required for economic analysis purposes.

1 – 3: Survey Coverage

The transport, storage and postal activities were classified into two sub-sectors:

1. The Organized Sector

This sector includes all establishments that carry out one or more transport, storage or postal activities under a specific commercial title and has an address. The main activities of this sector are distributed as follows in accordance with the International Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities (ISIC Rev. 4):

• Road transport and transport through pipelines (including rail transport).
• Air transport.
• Supporting transport activities (including storage and clearance).

1. Informal Sector

This sector includes all public vehicles operating in the Kingdom (small passenger cars, mini and larger buses, medium and small cargo vehicles, tanks, trucks and refrigerator trucks ) owned by individuals and have no specific location or fixed address. We obtain the framework of this sector from the Vehicles and Drivers Licensing Department. The data were collected for a time-reference period (the month preceding the visit).

1 – 4: Organized Sector Framework

The survey framework of the organized sector includes all establishments engaged in transport, storage and postal activities as well as the transport supporting activities.

1 – 5: Design of the informal sector sample

A random stratified sample of this sector is designed representing 2.6% of the total number of public vehicles operating in the Kingdom. This percentage was distributed quarterly over the year, with a total sample size of (2200) vehicles.

1. The Preparatory Stage

2 -1: Key documents of the survey

These documents include the survey two questionnaires (the first concerns the formal sector and the second for the informal sector). They also include the instructions manual for field staff, office and electronic edit rules and the coding manual. Find below summary of the main documents:

A – Survey Questionnaires

At the beginning of each year, a comprehensive review of the two survey questionnaires is carried out, taking into account that each questionnaire contains all data and information that meets the survey objectives and provides data for the preparation of national accounts tables and also the input and output tables in accordance with international recommendations. Each questionnaire includes the following main topics:

– Identification data and general data of the establishment.

– Compensation of employees in the establishment.

– Intermediate consumption of commodity and service inputs.

– Main activity income, secondary activities and other income.

– Payments and receipts from property revenues and financial transactions.

– Taxes on production and imports.

– Financial assets and liabilities, movement of fixed assets and capital formation.

B – Instruction Booklet

This booklet includes the definitions; concepts used and detailed instructions for the field staff at all levels of supervision and implementation. It also provides a detailed explanation of all questions in each questionnaire and how to complete the data in such a way as to obtain the highest possible accurate data. The manual also includes the basic edit rules to be followed by enumerators and edit staff while checking the questionnaires. It also includes instructions on the duties of the survey staff (supervisors, controllers, enumerators and edit staff) in addition to the rules of electronic edit necessary to process the data.

C – Coding Manuals

Predefined codes were assigned to all questions while designing the two questionnaires, where the ISIC manual is used to code the economic activity and the CPC manual for coding goods. A directory of cities and villages prepared by the Department of Statistics (DoS) is used to code the geographical location of the establishments.

2 – 2: Definitions and Classifications

Statistical unit: The establishment or the vehicle is considered the statistical unit of this survey. Accordingly, the work performed by each establishment or vehicle is reviewed and studied separately. If the group of works carried out by the establishment or vehicle is of a homogeneous nature and falls under one economic activity, then the establishment or vehicle is considered a statistical unit and all its data are recorded in one questionnaire. If the establishment or vehicle is engaged in more than one economic activity and faced difficulty to separate the input data, then main activity shall be determined and rest of the activities shall be treated as secondary activities where its data shall be included in the same questionnaire.

Gross production = It is the value of goods and services produced over a given period of time as a result of practicing a production activity, whether this activity is primary or secondary. This includes self-produced goods and services. That is:

Gross Production = production value of the main activity + production value of secondary activities (these include industrial production + trade margins + revenue of services provided to others + income from other secondary activities).

Intermediate consumption: It is the value of production inputs of goods and services used in production (i. e., intermediate consumption = value of commodity purchases adjusted by value of change in inventory + other production expenses).

Compensation of employees: It includes the total salaries and wages in cash and in kind due to employees and the contribution of producers in social security premiums in addition to other monetary and in-kind benefits owed to employees.

Net indirect taxes: It means all amounts due to the state, public institutions or municipalities, including: consumption and sales tax, license fees, building tax, vehicle license fees, revenue stamps, residence fees, work permits or any other fees due to the State less the value of state subsidies.

Depreciation = It is the current replacement cost of fixed assets that can be re-produced, except for roads, dams and similar constructions by government service producers, during an accounting period due to normal depreciation, expected obsolescence or normal rate of damage, and does not include unforeseen obsolescence, disaster damage and access to natural resources. Depreciation is calculated on the basis of percentages of the book value of fixed assets at the beginning of the year and of capital additions during the year.

Gross Fixed Capital Formation = It is the value of the expenditure incurred by the establishment during the year on the acquisition of new durable goods as an addition to its fixed asset inventory (excluding land) minus net sales of used fixed assets. Accordingly, gross fixed capital formation can be calculated as follows:

Gross fixed capital formation (during the year) = Purchases (imported and local, whether new or used) + Value of assets from establishment production + Additions and improvements – Sales.

2 -3: Organization of survey staff

The staff consists of the survey administration entrusted with all supervisory tasks (administrative or technical); in addition to the office staff (archive officer, edit officers and coders). The field staff consist of supervisors, edit staff and enumerators) working under supervision of the field supervisor.

2 -4: Selection and training of enumerators

The employees of this survey are selected according to criteria related to the nature of the work. Emphasis is placed on the quality of the employees in terms of educational level and specialization of the work to be accomplished whenever possible. A training program is held for all employees to include introduction of the survey objectives, method of data collection and how to deal with the establishments. The said program includes a detailed explanation of all questions in the questionnaire. At the end of the training, participants are given a written test to determine their comprehension levels of the concepts and instructions of the two questionnaires.

2. Data Collection Stage

3 – 1: Organization of field work

The fieldwork is carried out by trained interviewers under the supervision of controllers. The interviewers are distributed into teams each consisting of two or three interviewers, a controller and an edit employee.

3-2: Method of Data Collection

The data collection phase of the survey sample begins in April each year where data of establishments in the organized sector is collected through personal interviewing. In the case of some large enterprises, a date is set for completing the questionnaire so that the person concerned can prepare the necessary data. As for the collection of informal sector data, owners of public vehicles are interviewed by the Directorates of Public Vehicles in the governorates while renewing their vehicles’ licenses.

3-3: Field Edit

The field edit operation is assigned to a field edit employee, who checks the completed questionnaires on the spot. If an error is found in a questionnaire, it is returned to the enumerator to visit the establishment to correct the error.

3. Data Processing Stage

4 – 1: Office Processing

Completed questionnaires are delivered to the Transport, Communications and Tourism Division on a weekly basis against special lists. They are fully documented and re-checked by the office processing personnel in the division. If errors are discovered in the questionnaires during the checking process, they will be transferred to the division head or his assistant for decision taking. Depending on the type of error, it is corrected either directly by contacting the person in the establishment or by returning the questionnaire to the field so that the enumerator visits the establishment and corrects the error. The questionnaires are then coded for being transferred to the Directorate of Information Technology (I T).

4 -2: Electronic Processing

After completing the checking and coding process of the questionnaires, they are sent to the Data Entry Division where they are entered using the pre-prepared data entry programs. Errors in the questionnaires or data entry errors are corrected during the data entry process through automated checking programs. After completion of the data entry process and data cleaning, the programmer produces the lists that include the preliminary results using the pre-set rounding coefficients in order to check and verify validity of the results.

4 -3: Tabulation and Dissemination of Results

The preliminary results are checked and validated in terms of data consistency within the table and with the other tables, and then the final tables included in the report are extracted. These results are also uploaded to the (DoS) web page.

• Bulletins, Publications and Analytical Reports

The results of the Transport Survey are issued annually in hard copy and electronic formats.