Guimaras completes October round of Labor Force Survey

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Guimaras Provincial Statistical Office has completed the 2020 October round Labor Force Survey (LFS) after covering 12 primary sampling units (PSU’s)/Enumeration Areas (EAs) in the province.

The training of enumerators started last Oct 5 to 7 and survey operations immediately followed on Oct 8-20.

“The survey was completely done on time because of the cooperation and support of the Guimarasnons,” Philippine Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

A total of 193 provincial sample households in the 12 EAs, which covered 12 barangays were, enumerated: Taminla (12 HHs), Salvacion (19 HHs), and Dagsaan (21 HHs) in the Municipality of Buenavista; Buluangan (15 HHs), Rizal (19 HHs), San Miguel-003001 (13 HHs), San Miguel-002000 (8 HHs) and Alaguisoc (24 HHs) in Jordan Municipality; Brgy Suclaran (14 HHs), and Aguilar (17 HHs) were chosen in San Lorenzo Municipality; Brgy. Canhawan (14 HHs) in Nueva Valencia and Brgy. Maabay (17 HHs) in the Municipality of Sibunag.

“The October round LFS has rider questionnaires on the Survey on Overseas Filipinos (SOF) and the national survey on Awareness and Perception of Households on the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC)” Losare said.

“The SOF seeks to gather information on Filipino family members who traveled outside Philippines within the period October 2015 to September 2020 while the national survey on Awareness and Perception of Households on PCC aims to track how the extent of knowledge, perception, and attitudes of consumers have evolved.”

The PCC is a newly-constituted independent quasi-judicial body mandated to implement the national competition policy, and enforce the Philippine Competition Act or Republic Act 10667, which serves as the primary competition law in the Philippines for promoting and protecting competitive market.

Losare also explained that the LFS activity is a nationwide quarterly survey for households conducted by the PSA to gather data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population that provide accurate information as basis for the policy formulation and crafting of programs on the creation and generation of gainful employment and livelihood opportunities; reduction of unemployment and underemployment; and enhancement of the welfare of a working person.

“The results of the LFS-SOF-PCC awareness surveys will be used to capture and quantify the changes in the labor market amidst the pandemic crisis” Losare said.

“We guaranteed that all information gathered will be treated with utmost confidentiality and will be used as reference on the levels and trends of employment, unemployment, and underemployment purposes only” Losare said.

The authority and mandate of PSA to conduct statistical surveys emanate from Republic Act (RA) No. 10625 or the Philippine Statistical Act of 2013 which holds PSA primarily responsible for all national censuses and surveys, sectoral statistics, consolidation of selected administrative recording systems and compilation of national accounts.

In support to PSA’s mandate, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) issued Resolution No. 38 dated 22 May 2020 that allows the PSA to operate at a capacity necessary to conduct survey activities provided that data gathering will be carried out under strict physical distancing measures and other health protocols” Losare expounded.

Losare also stated that during the survey operations, PSA enumerators strictly followed the DOH protocols against COVID-19, such as wearing of face mask and face shield, physical distancing, proper hygiene and sanitation, and also adhered to all protocols laid down by the Local Government Units (LGUs) in the locality and for authenticity, the wearing of PSA ID.