The Philippine Statistics Authority Regional Statistical Services Office I (PSA-RSSO I) will conduct the July 2019 Labor Force Survey (LFS) together with the 2019 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) on July 8 to 31, 2019.

About 1,580 randomly selected sample housing units, deemed sufficient to generate regional estimates, will be visited in Ilocos Region by 20 hired Statistical Researchers (SRs) and eight regular field personnel who will act as Team Supervisors (TS) from July 8 to 31, 2019 using the Computer Aided Personal Interview (CAPI) both for the LFS and APIS.

The LFS is a quarterly nationwide survey of households which aims to gather data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population. It aims to provide a quantitative framework for the preparation of plans and formulation of policies affecting the labor market.

Rider questions on the awareness of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) and the Philippine Competition Act (PCA) were also added in this round of the LFS. 

The 2019 APIS is the thirteenth in a series of poverty indicators surveys conducted nationwide.  The detailed income and expenditure modules of the questionnaire are excluded in this survey round.  The survey focuses on the collection of data to generate non-income-based indicators correlated with poverty.  These indicators will be used as inputs to the development of the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) which can be used to assess and monitor the poverty situation in the country.

Moreover, the 2019 APIS gathers data on the socio-economic profile of families and other information that are related to their living conditions. Specifically, it generates indicators that are correlated with poverty in order to determine the percent distribution of families in relation to the following indicators: children 6-11 years old enrolled in primary education programs or elementary; children 12-17 years old enrolled in junior and senior high school; with members 18 years old and over who are gainfully employed and with working children 15-17 years old; who received and availed selected social protection programs; access to government agencies; owner-like possession of house and lot and the types of the materials of the roofs, walls of their housing units and floor materials; access to safe water, sanitation or type of toilet facility and handwashing facility they use in their homes; and who avail of loan/s and its sources. 

The PSA enjoins the respondents of the July 2019 LFS and Barangay Officials of the covered barangays to extend their full support and cooperation to our SRs for the success of the survey.  The respondents are assured that all information collected from them shall be kept strictly confidential.  Section 26 of Republic Act 10625 stipulates that individual data furnished by the respondent to statistical inquiries, surveys, and censuses of the PSA shall be considered as privileged information and such shall be inadmissible as evidence in any proceeding.  The PSA may release data gathered from surveys and censuses only in the form of summaries or statistical tables, in which no reference to an individual, corporation, association, partnership, institution or business enterprise shall appear.