Guam

1.Title of the survey:

Current Labour Force Survey.

2.Organization responsible for the survey:

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Guam Department of Labor.

3.Coverage of the survey:

(a) Geographical:

The whole island, excluding military installations and housings.

(b) Persons covered:

The civilian, non-institutional population aged 16 years and over, including citizens of Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islanders and citizens of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Excluded are civilians staying in military housings or installations, inmates of institutions, non-immigrant aliens, members of the armed forces and persons under 16 years of age, who are not covered in the periodic enumerations.

4.Periodicity of the survey:

The survey is quarterly, conducted in March, June, September and December of each year.

5.Reference period:

The calendar week (from Sunday through Saturday) which includes the 12th of the month; it is known as the survey week.

6.Topics covered:

The survey provides information on employment, unemployment, hours of work, income, duration of unemployment, industry, occupation, status in employment and level of education.

7.Concepts and definitions:

(a) Employment:

"Employed persons comprise:
  1. all those within the scope of the survey who, during the survey week, did any work (for at least one hour) as paid employees, in their own business, profession or farm, or who worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a related member of the same household; and
  2. all those who were not working but who had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent because of illness, bad weather, vacation, labour-management dispute, or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid by their employers for the time off, and whether or not they were seeking other jobs."

Included are:

  1. full- and part-time workers seeking other work during the reference week;
  2. full- and part-time students working full- or part-time;
  3. persons who performed some work for pay or profit during the reference week, while being subject to compulsory schooling; or retired and receiving a pension; or registered as jobseekers at an employment office or receiving unemployment benefit;
  4. paid apprentices and trainees;
  5. paid and unpaid family workers, provided the latter have worked at least 15 hours during the survey week;
  6. private domestic servants;
  7. persons temporarily laid off with pay (for less than 30 days).

Each employed person is counted only once. Those who held more than one job are counted in the job at which they worked the greatest number of hours during the survey week.

Excluded are persons whose only activity consisted of work around the house (such as own housework, and painting or repairing own home) or volunteer work for religious, charitable, and similar organisations; unpaid apprentices and trainees; and incidental (less than 15 hours) unpaid family workers as well as unpaid family workers temporarily absent from work during the survey week.

(b) Underemployment:

This topic is not covered by the survey.

(c) Unemployment:

"Unemployed persons comprise all persons within the scope of the survey who did not work during the survey week, who made specific efforts to find a job within the past four weeks, and who were available for work during the survey week (except for temporary illness). Also included as unemployed are those who did not work at all, were available for work, and were (a) waiting to be called back to a job from which they were laid off (without pay and for less than 30 days), or (b) waiting to report to a new wage or salary job within 30 days."

Also included are full- and part-time students seeking full- or part-time work.

Seasonal workers awaiting agricultural or other seasonal work are excluded from the unemployed and considered as out of the labour force.

Having made "specific efforts" to find a job is interpreted as having taken one or more of the following steps during the survey week: checked with public or private employment agency; checked with employer directly; contacted friends or relatives; placed or answered advertisements; checked with union or professional register; etc.

(d) Hours of work:

They refer to the total number of hours actually worked at all jobs during the survey week, whether paid or unpaid, including overtime but excluding time off and meal breaks.

(e) Informal sector:

This topic is not covered by the survey.

(f) Usual activity:

This topic is not covered by the survey.

8.Classifications used:

Data are classified by industry, occupation and status in employment, but are neither regularly tabulated nor published. However the following classifications apply:

(a) Industry:

The United States Standard Industrial Classification (SIC).

(b) Occupation:

The United States Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT).

(c) Status in employment:

The following status categories are identified:
  1. Employee of private company,
  2. Local government employee,
  3. Federal government employee,
  4. Self-employed in own business, professional practice or farm,
  5. Working without pay in family business or farm.

(d) Level of education/qualifications:

Data are collected on the highest grade or year of regular school ever attended.

9.Sample size and design:

(a) The sample frame:

It consists of a listing of housing units constructed through mapping and updated through field work. A supervisor with the assistance of enumerators make or update the universe on a daily basis.

(b) The sample:

The sampling technique is based on a proportional stratified systematic random sampling design. The universe is stratified into 19 strata (election districts). The primary sampling units (PSUs) are housing units selected in each of the 19 strata using a random start number and a determined skip interval with three separate replications.

The sampling fraction is constant and represents 1/8 of each strata's PSUs. The sample size is approximately 1,800 housing units, representing about 3,000 persons per quarter.

(c) Rotation:

Not applicable.

10.Field work:

(a) Data collection:

Data are collected by personal interview with a responsible member of each household in the sample. Interviews are carried out by a team of 35 to 40 trained enumerators employed for each survey. Telephone interviews may be used for households which have taken part in the previous survey round. The supervisory and processing staff are permanent. The interview period is the one to two weeks following the survey week and should include the 19th of the month.

(b) Substitution of ultimate sampling units:

When a sample person cannot be reached or where there is total non-response, no substitution is made.

11.Quality controls:

Before the survey starts, selected enumerators go through a rigorous training programme. During field work, each enumerator is required to edit his questionnaires (Control Cards and Labour Force schedules) before submitting them to the BLS office. A continuing program of reinterview (by personal visit and by telephone) on a subsample of households (approximately 10 per cent of the work of each enumerator) is carried out by supervisors every quarter during or following the interview weeks. Supervisors also check the quality of the work of the enumerators through field observations. Questionnaires are edited manually at the BLS.

12.Weighting the sample:

The survey results are expanded to the level of the total population using the ratio estimate method.

13.Sampling errors:

Not available.

14.Adjustments:

(a) Population not covered:

No adjustment is made.

(b) Under/overcoverage:

No adjustment is made.

(c) Non-response:

The non-response rate is not available. No adjustment is made.

15.Seasonal adjustment:

No adjustment is made for seasonal variations.

16.Non-sampling errors:

Not available.

17.History of the survey:

The survey started in May 1975. It has been carried out on a quarterly basis, in March, June, September and December of each year, except during the period 1981-1983 when it took place three times a year, in March, July and November.

18.Documentation:

Guam Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics: "News - The Unemployment Situation on Guam" (quarterly) (Tamuning); published three to four months after the reference period of the survey.

Guam Department of Commerce, Economic Research Center: "Quarterly Economic Review" (ibid.).

Non-published results are also available, in tabulation form, upon request addressed to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.