The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) – Ilocos Sur conducts the January 2024 round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) along with the 2023 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) Visit 2 as its rider, on 08 to 31 January 2024.

The LFS is a nationwide survey of households that aims to gather data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population. It provides information on major labor market trends such as labor force participation and unemployment rates, hours worked, past industries and occupations of the currently unemployed persons.

Meanwhile, the FIES is the country’s main source of data on family income, sources of income, family expenditure including cost and consumption volume. These are used in determining the income distribution, levels of living, spending patterns, and the degree of income inequality among families. Further, the FIES is the main source of data for the estimation of the official poverty statistics. The information generated from FIES also serve as inputs to policies and programs of the government in improving the socio-economic conditions of the Filipino people.

Around 57 Statistical Researchers (SRs) were hired to conduct interviews from the 1,600 sample households in the province. They will be supervised by the six hired Team Supervisors (TSs) along with the regular field personnel from the Provincial Statistical Office (PSO).

The authority and mandate of the PSA to conduct the LFS and FIES emanate from Republic Act (R.A.) No. 10625 known as the Philippine Statistical Act of 2013 states that, “the PSA will be primarily responsible for all national censuses and surveys, sectoral statistics, consolidation of administrative recording system, and compilation of national accounts.”

The PSA encourages all sample households to participate and contribute to the conduct of the surveys by providing truthful, correct, and accurate answers to the SRs. The PSA complies with the Data Privacy Act of 2012 and assures that all collected personal information and data gathered from the said surveys are processed in accordance with the law and other issuances.

SGD. JEANETTE M. MARZAN
Chief Statistical Specialist, PSO Ilocos Sur