RUNDU - The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) on Friday launched the 2018 Namibia Labour Force Survey (NLFS) to be conducted countrywide, this will be the 5TH of its kind to be conducted by NSA since its establishment in April 2012. The NLFS survey was launched in Rundu in Kavango East.
“NSA is mandated to conduct LFS on an annual basis. Previous surveys were conducted in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016, respectively,” said the NSA Deputy Statistician General, Ottilie Mwazi.
Mwazi said the information to be collected through this survey will provide labour statistics such as employment, unemployment (now 34 percent at national level) and many other basic socio-economic indicators at individual and household levels that are required for policy making by various sectors at national and regional levels.
“This information will also be used to build the labour market information system for easy planning,” she said.
Mwazi urged communities in all the country’s 14 regions to support the NSA so that it could successfully implement the NLFS survey.
“Full participation and cooperation from the community during the data collection by opening doors and farm gates for the field staff and by providing the required information. The Survey reference night is 30th September 2018 for all selected households. Data collection period is 16 September to 16 October 2018 (including list phase: 16 to 30 September & interviewing phase 1 to 16 October 2018),” she noted.
According to the NSA Deputy Statistician General Several measures have been put in place for easy identification of NSA field staff, specifically, she said the field staff will be recognised by their field identification cards and they will have uniforms with NSA logo and 2018 Labour Force Survey label. All survey vehicles will be branded with NSA logo.
“To ensure security of both field staff and our respondents, the Namibia Statistics Agency is working closely with the Namibian Police. Should there be people claiming to be from the Agency without clear identification, please report them to the police,” Mwazi added.
In order to ensure confidentiality of all information collected from households and individuals, all survey personnel including field staff signed the oath of secrecy during the launch that stays in force during and after data collection.
“Therefore, rest assured that all the information to be collected will be used for statistical purposes only and field staff are not required to reveal any information to unauthorised persons,” she stated. Mwazi thanked the community for the continued support in providing the information needed for planning and decision making at national, regional and international levels.
“You will agree with me that monitoring and evaluating of objectives and targets that we set for ourselves in NDP5; Harambee Prosperity Plan, Vision 2030; SDG and Africa Agenda 2063 is critical to ensure that development planning is not disjointed from what is happening on the ground. So, I urge all development practitioners and policy makers at national and regional level to make use of data we produce to improve their daily planning,” she said.