Africa-Press – Seychelles. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is conducting a new series of Labour Force Survey starting in the second quarter of 2023.
It is part of a series of continuous household based surveys being introduced in 2023 to produce labour market indicators.
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a study of the labour force situation in Seychelles to produce quarterly statistics on the availability of labour resources and the relationship between employment and other social and economic characteristics.
The data collector will be conducting face-to-face interviews using computer assisted questionnaires. During the interview, data collection will be related to employment, unemployment, status in employment, hours of work and own-use production.
NBS says the data collection period for the second quarter will go for three months. The first period ran from April 24 to May 5, 2023. The second period will begin on Monday, May 22 and will go until Wednesday, May 31. The third and last period will be between June 26 and July 5, 2023.
During the survey, NBS officers will be visiting a sample of randomly selected households on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue on a monthly basis, to interview household members.
The NBS is appealing to household members who are visited to give their full cooperation to the officers. The public is reminded that the information collected will be treated with strict confidence and no individual personal information will be published.
In an interview with Seychelles NATION, statistician Ryan Madeleine explained that in 2014 when the first survey was undertaken, their officers visited 400 houses monthly, making a total of 1200 houses in the first quarter.
“Currently we are doing 600 houses per month for three months, because we need to increase the samples gradually after some time,” he said.
He added that after completing the first period on May 5, they began a procedure called ‘Cleaning and Editing’, where they checked and verified the information, making necessary corrections where needed.
After every three-month period, all data will be collected and a report will be drafted. The first is expected to be released by the end of September.
Meanwhile Mr Madeleine said so far the operation on the field is going quite well and people are co-operating and the target of visiting 600 houses is achievable.
The information collected will be helpful in planning, implementing and monitoring policies relating to the labour market, economic development and welfare of the population.
Statistician Tania Pouponneau said the report compiled is used mainly by the Ministry of Employment, however the general public can also access it.
“When they are writing the policies or programmes, the ministry will need evidence of what is going on out there in terms of employment and this is where the report comes into assistance, so the labour force survey gives indicators of the situation in Seychelles,” she explained.
She added that one of the important indicators which is most often looked at is the unemployment rate, where it identifies how many is unemployed but fit and available to work in a reference period and those who are looking for work.
The two statisticians assure the public that the questionnaire does not contain any question that would either seem too personal or uncomfortable such as salary figures.
“Our survey depends on the support and co-operation of the public, so we would like to ask the public to help our surveyors when they pass by, it would take about 30 minutes maximum,” Mr Madeleine concluded.
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