C.1. Count of jobs versus count of persons

7.27.                  Pursuant to paragraph 7.6 above, a person may occupy more than one job involved in tourism‑characteristic activities, which may be located in different establishments belonging to different tourism industries. Therefore, the total number of persons employed in the tourism industries may not be equal to the sum of persons employed in individual tourism industries. One solution to this problem is to count people as employed in their main job only. In this way, the sum of persons employed in the tourism industries will equal the sum of persons employed in individual tourism industries. It should be recognized, however, that this approach will miss employment in the tourism industries through secondary and tertiary jobs. In general, it is recommended that the main job chosen be the one with the longest hours usually worked during the reference period. The decision taken should be consistently applied. Selecting the main job is usually not difficult for the short reference period for current employment activity. 

7.28.                  However, problems may arise with respect to persons temporarily absent from their main job in the reference period and as regards selecting a previous job for the unemployed. It is recommended that a job from which a person is temporarily absent should not be considered the main job if the person is employed and at work in another job during the reference week. The ILO international recommendation do not state, but rather imply, that if a person does not have any other employment in the reference period, then the job from which he or she is absent should be considered the main job. It has been found that usually, most economically active persons do report any job from which they are temporarily absent and expect the information to be recorded. This response applies particularly to wage earners on leave and members of similar categories, but is also very common among the self‑employed[1]. 

7.29.                  For examples of questions used to collect data on the main job and additional job(s) in labour‑force surveys and on an employee’s job in establishment surveys, see Annex III, (questions 2, 47 and 48) and Annex IV (question 1), respectively.