NO. 58/2016                     DATE: September 29, 2016

 

2016 LABOUR FORCE SURVEY COMMENCES

 

ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA, Wednesday, September 28, 2016: The Central Statistical Office

(CSO) of the Ministry of Finance and Energy, in collaboration with the OECS Commission, the International Labour 

Organisation (ILO) Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean and the United Nationas Development

Programme (UNDP) will be conducting the Annual National Labour Force Survey in Grenada starting

Friday September 30, 2016. In this regard, the Ministry of Finance and Energy is again asking for the

support and cooperation of the general public to ensure the efficient conduct of this annual survey.

A Labour Force Survey is a household sample survey that provides estimates of employment and unemployment.

These are among the most important measures of economic performance of any economy.

The main objectives of the 2016 Labour Force Survey (LFS) are: (1) to divide the working-age population

into three mutually exclusive classifications - employed, unemployed, and not in the labour force;  

(2) to provide descriptive and explanatory data on each of these classifications; and (3) To assess the

level of poverty in Grenada using the multi-dimensional approach to poverty measurement.

LFS data are used to produce the well-known unemployment rate as well as other standard labour 

market indicators such as the employment rate and the participation rate. The LFS also provides employment

estimates by industry, occupation, public and private sector, hours worked and much more. In addition to

the labour market indicators the survey will also produce poverty indicators like the multi-dimensional

poverty index (MPI), the incidence of poverty indicator (multi-dimensional poverty rate) and the intensity

indicator (a measure of how deprived are the poor).

The Labour Force Survey is a Household Survey. The data collection will be based on a sample of 1,365

households throughout Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique drawn from the Listing of Households

which was compiled prior to the survey. The data are collected through face-to- face interviews with

members (or a member) of the sampled households using the 2016 labour force survey questionnaire.

The information provided by these respondents on the completed questionnaires will be used to produce a

picture of the activities of the entire population.

The success of the Labour Force Survey in accurately capturing persons’ employment and welfare status

depends on the full cooperation of the public. Persons are informed that the work of the Statistical department

is conducted under the authority of the Statistics Act, No. 30 of 1960 and No. 21 of 1961.

The public is therefore assured that information provided to the Central Statistical Office is strictly confidential

and would only be disseminated at the aggregate level. The Oath of Secrecy which will be administered to

each interviewer before commencement of his/her duties also guarantees to the public that information given would

not be revealed. Anyone violating this oath can be prosecuted.

The public is being advised that the information collected is essential to Government’s efforts to address the unemployment