Saint Lucia

Title: Household Income and Expenditure Survey 1998

GENERAL INFORMATION AND BASIC DEFINITIONS

1. Background

Further information is available from Government Statistics Department of Chreiki Building, Micoud Str. Castries, St Lucia, phone: 45 23 716.
Data have been collected by household survey since 1984.

2. Purpose and coverage

The following purposes are considered to be very important or of some importance:

to obtain weights for consumer price index
to estimate household expenditure for national accounts
to study the general structure of household incomes/expenditures
for market research purposes

Lesser importance is attached to:

to study income/expenditure patterns of disadvantaged groups, including pensioner households, single parent households, etc
to study income/expenditure disparities among socio-economic groups
to study consumer behaviour among socio-economic groups
for general poverty and/or income distribution studies
to study effects on income and expenditure of policy changes, especially tax changes

Geographic coverage: Selected areas only, namely Island wide (no other information provided) without any specific geographic areas excluded.

Population coverage:
The following types of household are included in the data collection:

one person private households
private households with more than one person
households of other foreigners in the country

The following types of household are excluded in the data collection:

those in collective housing (such as long term hospitals, prisons, monasteries, military quarters)
non-resident households of nationals (households of nationals located abroad)
diplomatic households in the country
armed forces residing in private housing within military base
armed forces residing in private housing outside military base

Units: Dwelling units are not used in the sample selection.

Data are recorded for the household unit which is characterised by:

one person units
two or more people living together:
- sharing meals

Unit members: Usual residents temporarily living away from the dwelling are included, if away continuously for less than 3 months. Visitors (not usual residents) temporarily living in the dwelling are not included as unit members. Domestic staff living in same dwelling/compound are included in the unit. Renters living in same dwelling/compound are not included in the unit. Boarders living in same dwelling/compound are not included in the unit.

Head of unit:
The concept of head of household/other unit is used in this survey and is characterised by:

acknowledged as such by other household/unit members
responsible for financial maintenance of household/unit
responsible for decisions on main expenditures

3. Reference periods

This survey is conducted irregularly/occasionally.

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

4. Sample design

The Primary, Secondary and Ultimate Sampling Units are enumeration area/district, none and household respectively.

Stratification:
Areas/districts were stratified using the following criteria:

geographical regions
rural/urban

The sampling frames for the Primary Sampling Unit (PSU) and Ultimate Sampling Unit (USU) were the list of Census enumeration areas and the master sample of households respectively. Primary Sampling Units (PSU) were selected using probability proportional to size and Ultimate Sampling Units (USU) were selected using systematic random sampling.. The sample size was 1200 households or other units.

Enumeration procedure: Enumeration uses a single round survey design in which each reporting unit is enumerated only once. No action is taken to select a smaller set of reporting units for more detailed questioning.

Sample households were interviewed with a recall period of 12 months for most items except for home grown produce with a reference period of one month. The diary was kept for a two week period.

DATA COLLECTION, CONCEPTS, DEFINITIONS AND CLASSIFICATIONS

5. Income data

Income data are collected. Receipts do not have to be regular and recurring to be considered as income. Income includes receipts resulting from the sale or reduction of assets and/or from incurring liabilities are included in income. Income excludes receipts that are not currently available to the unit.

The following receipts are collected separately:

drawing for own use from unincorporated enterprises
goods produced for own consumption, gross of inputs

The following receipts are collected but not separately:

wages and salaries
cash bonuses and gratuities
commissions and tips
rentals (payment received for produced assets e.g. house), gross of expenses

The following receipts are classified as income from paid employment:

wages and salaries

The following receipts are collected using the last month as the reference period:

cash bonuses and gratuities
commissions and tips
goods produced for own consumption, gross of inputs

The following receipts are collected using the 'last payment' and 'period covered':

wages and salaries

Income data were collected as an aggregate for the whole unit. Negative values (business losses) were excluded when computing self-employment income.

6. Expenditure data

Data collection method:
Diaries are used to collect expenditure data and are maintained for two weeks.

Diaries are used to collect expenditure on the following items:

food
alcohol, tobacco
other household non-durables (such as newspapers, batteries)
clothing, footwear
other personal non-durables (such as perfumes)
household services (such as plumber)
personal services (such as driving lessons, haircuts)

Interviews are used to collect expenditure data with the respondent completing the interview by a mix of recall and using documentation.

Data for the following expenditure items are collected by referring:

to expenditures in last one month:
- other personal non-durable goods
- households services

to expenditures in last 12 months:
- other household non-durable goods
- housing
- other durable goods
- personal services

Data for the following expenditure items are not collected by interview because they are collected by diary:

food
clothing, footwear

Classification: COICOP is used for classifying expenditure and has 4 separate categories at the finest level.

7. Other Data Collection Issues

The following other topics are covered:

demographic characteristics
education attainment of members
employment status of members
occupation of members
housing characteristics
savings
indebtedness

Households are requested to indicate whether durable goods are new or second-hand when their acquisition is recorded.

Non-response: There is no substitution for non-response, whether by non-contact or by refusal.

Non-response is reduced using more than one repeat visits. Reporting errors are reduced using careful instrument design.

DATA PROCESSING, ANALYSIS AND DISSEMINATION

Answers are not pre-coded on data collection forms, but are coded by office staff.

The responses are edited by the following:

field supervisors
office staff

Consumption of own production is included in the estimates, but in-kind receipts are not.

Treatment of owner-occupied housing: Values of owner-occupied housing are included in the total income/expenditure estimates and are valued using unspecified methods.

Treatment of selected groups/values in analysis: Some households/units are excluded from analysis because of incomplete response. Supplementary sources are not used to adjust estimates for under- or over-reporting.

The following groups are excluded from data analysis:

Weighting:
No information was provided on sample weighting.

Sampling errors: No information was provided on samplimg errors.

Tabulation and Analysis:

The following classifications are used for tabulation and analysis of expenditure statistics:

expenditure classes in monetary terms

Documentation and Dissemination:

Separate tables are not published for any special population groups. Files of unidentifiable unit data are not available (or available on request) for public use.