Statistics Bureau starting quarterly Labour Force Survey this week

Jan 04, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (LFS) conducted by the Bureau of Statistics will

Unemployment: 2019 fourth quarter and 2020 first quarter.

begin this Thursday January 7. The survey which serves to measure Guyana’s labour market was launched in 2018 under the previous administration. The coalition government had collaborated with the Bureau of Statistics, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and other local and international stakeholders.
The initiative also receives technical support from Sistemas Integrales Limited and the International Labour Organization. When it was launched it was stated that with the survey they would be able to track Guyana’s labour market dynamics on a quarterly basis.
Those surveyed are usually males and females 15 years old and older from households in every region. The last LFS conducted was in the first quarter of 2020 and the Bureau has stated that it is hoping for the cooperation of those selected to be surveyed.

Youth Unemployment: 2019 fourth quarter and 2020 first quarter.

It was said that enumerators from the Bureau will be visiting a selected portion of households and the data obtained from the surveys will be used to bolster decision making as it relates to training and education needs. Along with that, it was noted that a household may also be visited twice per year.
It was highlighted that the LFS’ main objectives are to collect the data which seeks to examine unemployment levels within Guyana’s economically active population, the composition of the country’s labour force based on demographics like education, gender and others and things that support or cause job creation and job destruction.
Findings from the last LFS noted a few things as it relates to underemployment and unemployment. Underemployment which is usually working less than 30 hours per week was recorded at 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2020 which was an increase from the 3.5 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2019.
As it relates to unemployment, the unemployment rate for the first quarter 2020 was 12.8 percent which is lower than the 13.4 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The rural unemployed population represented the vast majority of the total unemployed for the first quarter of 2020 and the unemployment rate for women was higher than that fo

Underemployment: 2019 fourth quarter and 2020 first quarter.

r men. The youth unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2020 was recorded at 30.2 percent which is higher when compared to the 29.7 percent recorded in 2019’s fourth quarter.