AN EXTENSION HAS been granted by the Inter-American Development Bank for the Enhanced Continuous Labour Force Sample Survey.
This means that officers will return to the field in eight parishes across the island from Sunday, August 30, to Wednesday, September 30, to conduct the Barbados Statistical Service’s (BSS) survey, which is being done in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, under its Skills for the Future Programme.
From Sunday, August 30 to Saturday, September 5, field officers will visit the St. George districts of Bulkeley Terrace, Eastlyne, Content, Harmony Cottage, Glebe Land, Rowans Park, Walkers Park East & West, Walkers Park Close, and Thorpe’s Cottage.
Interviews will also be conducted in the St. Thomas districts of Canewood Road, Jackson, Bridgefield Road and Sunflower Drive; and the St. Michael areas of Chapman Street, White Park Road, Baxter’s Road, Deacons Court, Goodland Road, and 1st Avenue Weekes Land.
The officers, who have been specially recruited to work on the project, will carry photo identification cards. In addition, under the Statistics Act Cap. 192, they are required to keep confidential all of the information collected from households. The BSS has asked the public to fully cooperate with the field staff.
Director of the BSS, Aubrey Browne, is on record as saying that the survey is extremely important. He explained that it would give the department more precise estimates for the labour force, as well as additional information on education that would inform the Skills for the Future Programme.
“Field officers are gathering information on how school leavers transition into the labour force so it could be determined what are the rates of return from the education system. That will inform us about the true benefits of education, in terms of preparing individuals for the world of work and for specific occupations. We are also going to look at whether people are actually involved in the occupations they have been trained in,” Browne explained.
The Enhanced Continuous Labour Force Survey will also measure some of the additional activities outside of the formal sector that were not being measured before, and will be considered part of the informal sector. (BGIS)
