Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is changing its collection method for the second quarter of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) due to restrictions on face-to-face collections imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Statistician-General, Risenga Maluleke, has announced that Stats SA will conduct data collection for key labour statistics using telephone interviews instead of fieldworkers visiting sampled dwelling units (households).

“Continuous measuring of the economy is an important and necessary undertaking. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Statistics South Africa will continue providing the salient labour statistics for policy and evidence based decision making” said Mr Maluleke. Telephonic data collection for Q2:2020 will commence on Monday 11 May 2020. Collection of data will be conducted using the Computer Assisted Telephonic Interview (CATI) methodology.

The current situation dictates changes to and adaption of our processes and methodology. The Q2 QLFS questionnaire has been slightly modified for telephonic interviewing and few questions on COVID-19 have been added. Unlike the online COVID-19 surveys conducted by Stats SA, which used convenience sampling and were therefore not representative of the South African population, the estimates from this survey will be representative of the experience of all South Africans.

“The lockdown and progression of the pandemic resulted in the discontinuation of face-to-face data collection. We are appealing for cooperation and participation from all households sampled for the survey as the data will provide much-needed information on how COVID-19 has impacted employment in South Africa,” said Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke.

Contact numbers for dwelling units in the sample were sourced from the QLFS data for previous quarters. There is a need to change the survey methodology slightly so there will be no rotation of dwelling units out of the sample until the situation with the pandemic improves. Some of our respondents were supposed to be in the sample for the last time in the previous quarter; we now plead with them to stay in the sample for a few more quarters to ensure that there is continuity in the production of the labour statistics that the country needs, especially during the crisis period, to assess its impact on the estimates.

Stats SA official will not ask for ID numbers and banking details. Should you want to verify the details of the Stats SA officials, please go to the Fieldworker Verification link on the Stats SA website (www.statssa.gov.za)