NSO conducts 4th Qtr Labor Force Survey and 2nd Visit Income & Expenditure Income
BACOLOD CITY — The National Statistics Office starts the year with two surveys, the Labor Force Survey (LFS) and the second round of Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES).
These two activities are simultaneously being conducted nationwide starting on the second week of this month.
FIES is undertaken every three years. The survey gathers data on the income distribution, spending pattern and degree of inequality among Filipino families. Data gathered from said survey shall be used as a basic source of information on human development, poverty and levels of living of the different sections of the population.
Meanwhile, LFS is conducted regularly to gather data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population. It is primarily geared towards the estimation of the levels of employment and unemployment in the country.
About 1,200 sample households in Negros Occidental will be interviewed by 53 personnel including hired Statistical Researchers in 86 sample barangays all throughout the province.
FIES provides data that are needed in the different aspects of the country’s economic conditions. It is the basic information to the following: updates of the weights used in the construction of the Consumer Price Index, estimation of the household account in the System of National Accounts and balances, measurement of the human development, measurement of poverty and measurement of the levels of living of different sections of the population and disparities in the levels of living between urban and rural areas.
Sample households will be asked about their income and expenses from July 1 to December 31, 2009. Expenditures in food, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, fuel, light, water, communications, personal care, education, recreation, taxes, equipment and furnishings, house maintenance and other incidental household expenses.
On the other hand, the income side will include the salaries and wages from employment, net share of crops, income from the family sustenance and any other income from other sources will also be determined.
In addition for this round, further information will be asked about the family’s health and schooling status, acquisition of credit to finance their entrepreneurial activity if they have a business and the changes in their welfare.
Since this is the second visit, Provincial Statistics Officer Fred Sollesta is requesting the sample households to accommodate again the interviewers and give their full cooperation in this undertaking. The two visits should be completed to determine the family’s income and expenditure pattern for the two semesters. Cooperation of sample respondents and credibility of information given to the NSO personnel are the two most important inputs of these surveys. The quality of data that will be produced by the NSO greatly depends on the respondents’ responses.
Just like other censuses and surveys conducted by NSO, LFS and FIES are backed by various legislative acts and presidential directives of the government particularly the Commonwealth Act No. 591.
All information taken from the surveys and censuses are strictly held confidential and will not be disclosed to any person or entity. (NSO/PIA/EAD)
