The Anguilla Statistics Department is conducting the first household survey of the island’s labour force in 26 years.
Interviewers have been in the field collecting data since the first week of June and the survey is scheduled for completion within six weeks.
Not every household in Anguilla is required to participate on this occasion as the survey is based on a selected sample, a press release from the statistics department said.
“Interviewers will continue their work in the assigned districts. Please look out for them, be courteous, and assist them,” it continued.
The department thanked those who were selected and have completed the process, and asked for all remaining households to keep their appointments with the interviewers.
A long time coming
To date, all of Anguilla’s labour force indicators have come from the Anguilla Population and Housing Censuses which took place in 1999.
According to the statistics department, it has been keen to introduce a continuous labour force survey to provide data to help plan and design policies for many years.
In 2016, the the department grasped the opportunity to collaborate with the Education Planning Unit to undertake the consultancy for a Labour Force and Labour Market Survey.
However, in 2017, Hurricane Irma put a halt to the department’s plans as the building in which the office was previously housed was severely damaged, rendering it uninhabitable.
The European Union, which was funding the project, agreed to split it into two components and in 2020, work on the Anguilla Labour Market Survey began.
Second component
Four years later, preparatory work commenced on plans to introduce an Anguilla Labour Force Survey – a survey of people aged 15 and over living in private accommodation on the island.
The survey, which is currently taking place, aims to produce estimates of employment and unemployment along with employment and unemployment rates and the participation rate.
It will create estimates by industry, occupation, geographic locations, public and private sector as well as demographic characteristics.
While the Anguilla Labour Market Survey was focused on the demand side of the labour market equation, the Anguilla Labour Force Survey focuses on the supply side of the labour market equation.
Further information on the Anguilla Labour Force Survey is available from chief statistician Lori-Rae Alleyne-Franklin at (264) 497-5731 or [email protected]
