PSA urges support on data collection in Caraga
BUTUAN CITY – The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Caraga will conduct series of data collection such as the Consumer Expectations Survey (CES), Labor Force Survey (LFS) and 2023 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) Visit-1, and 2023 Updating of List of Aquatic Farms (ULAF) from July to August of this year.
With the different activities to be conducted in Caraga region for the 3rd quarter, Dr. Rosalinda C. Apura, regional director of PSA Caraga enjoins the Caraganons especially the sample households, to support and cooperate in the conduct of the July 2023 CES. The provinces of Agusan del Norte and Surigao del Norte are included in the survey round, with data collection to end on July 14, 2023.
Apura said that the CES is a nationwide quarterly household-based survey on the consumers’ assessment of their family income, financial situation, and the economic condition of the country. “This is administered on a sample basis at the household level drawn through a stratified multi-stage random sampling,” the director added.
“It is a joint undertaking between the PSA and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). We, in PSA are responsible to undertake the data collection using Computer-Aided Data Collection System (CADaCS), while generating tables and analysis of the results is tasked to the BSP,” she explained.
According to Apura, the CES aims to provide a quick and regular assessment of the financial condition of consumers, as well as the economic condition of the country at present and in the near future from the consumers’ viewpoints; and generate forecasts in the direction of the country’s economic activity based on consumers’ outlook in the current quarter, next quarter and the next 12 months. It also provide quick and regular assessment of consumers’ confidence in terms of their income and expenditures as well as their outlook on key economic indicators closely monitored by the BSP such as inflation, exchange rate, and interest rates; provide quick and regular assessment of the saving condition of consumers and outstanding debt situation of the household head and their spouse/partner.
Meanwhile, the LFS and 2023 FIES Visit-1, data collection will start on July 8 to 31 in all provinces in the region, with required sample of approximately 8,624 housing units deemed sufficient to provide regional level estimates, to be manned by 383 statistical researchers, team supervisors, and field office personnel who will employ the integrated Computer-Aided Data Collection System (CADaCS) for the survey.
“The LFS is a nationwide monthly household survey conducted by the PSA to gather data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population and is used, among other things, to calculate national and regional key employment indicators,” Apura further stated.
Also, the 2023 FIES is a rider survey to the July 2023 and January 2024 LFS. The 2023 FIES Visit-1 will be handled together with the July 2023 LFS. The FIES is the country’s main source of data on family income, sources of income, and family expenditure including cost and consumption volume. It is also the main source of data for the estimation of the official poverty statistics. The information generated from LFS and FIES also serves as inputs to policies and programs of the government in improving the socio-economic conditions of the Filipino people
Moreover, the 2023 ULAF is also a nationwide activity that aims to develop a statistical sampling frame that contains an updated list of aquaculture farms in the whole country. The current sampling frame, according to Apura is used for the quarterly aquaculture surveys was based on the 2017 ULAF.
Apura also said that their agency is currently engaged in improving the conduct of aquaculture surveys in the country, frame updating is necessary to keep up with the fast-changing aquaculture sector prior to the implementation of the redesigned surveys.
The hired statistical researchers and field office personnel will employ an integrated Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) application and GIS mobile application for the survey. The updating activity will involve listing and geotagging of aquafarms in the provinces.
Apura encourages aquaculture farms, to support and cooperate in the conduct of the 2023 ULAF. The data collection will be undertaken from 10 July 2023 to 12 August 2023 with the field personnel following precautionary measures against the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Apura assured that all information collected by the field personnel shall be kept strictly confidential and shall not be used for purposes of taxation, investigation, or regulation as stipulated under Article 55 of Republic Act No. 10625. (NCLM/PIA Caraga)
