Abstract

The Occupational Wages Survey (OWS) generates statistics for wage and salary administration and for wage determination in collective bargaining negotiations. This nationwide biennial survey covers establishments employing at least 20 workers.

The OWS is one of the designated statistical activities in E.O. 352 (s.1996) that designates those critical for decision making by the government and the private sector. Moreover, the data category average monthly occupational wage rates in selected occupation is among those listed by the Philippine government under the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) of the International Monetary Fund. The SDDS serves as reference to member countries in the dissemination of economic and financial data to the public.

Geographic coverage

National coverage, 17 administrative regions

Analysis unit

Establishment

Universe

The survey covers agricultural and non-agricultural establishments employing 20 or more workers except central banking, public administration and defense and compulsory social security, public education services, public medical, dental and other health services, activities of membership organizations, activities of households as employers of domestic personnel, undifferentiated goods-and-services-producing activities of households for own use and activities of extra-territorial organizations and bodies.

Pre-determined industries for wage monitoring now total to 50 due to the inclusion of agriculture, forestry and fishery; and the splitting and merging of original domains with the adoption of the 2009 PSIC.

Inclusion of new domains: - Crop and Animal Production, Hunting and Related Service Activities; Forestry and Logging (A01/A02) - Fishing and Aquaculture (A03) - Manufacture of Basic Pharmaceutical Products and Pharmaceutical Preparation (C21)

Splitting of original domains: - Publishing and Printing (D221/D222/D223 of 1994 PSIC as amended) into Printing and Reproduction of Recorded Media (C18); and Publishing Activities (J58) - Supporting and Auxiliary Transport Activities; Activities of Travel Agencies (I63 of 1994 PSIC as amended) into Warehousing and Support Activities for Transportation (H52); and Travel Agency, Tour Operator, Reservation Service and Related Activities (N79)

Merging of original domains: - Banking Institutions except Central Banking (J65 excl. J6510 of 1994 PSIC as amended) and Non-Bank Financial Intermediation (J66 of 1994 PSIC as amended) into Financial Service Activities except Insurance, Pension Funding and Central Banking (K64 excl. K6411)

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Statistical unit: The statistical unit is the establishment. Each unit is classified to an industry that reflects its main economic activity---the activity that contributes the biggest or major portion of the gross income or revenues of the establishment.

Survey universe/Sampling frame: The 2014 BLES Survey Sampling Frame (2014 SSF) is an integrated list of establishments culled from the updated 2012 BLES Survey Sampling Frame based on the status of establishments reported in the 2011/2012 BLES Integrated Survey (BITS) and 2012 Occupational Wages Survey (OWS). Other sources were Lists of Establishments from the National Statistics Office (2012), DOLE Regional Office IV-B,and the BLES Job Displacement Monitoring System (JDMS).

Sampling design: The OWS is a sample survey of agricultural and non-agricultural establishments employing 20 persons or more where the survey domain is the industry. Those establishments employing at least 200 persons are covered with certainty and the rest are sampled (stratified random sampling). The design does not consider the region as a domain to allow for detailed industry groupings.

Sample size: For 2014 OWS, the number of establishments covered was 8,399, of which, 6,595 were eligible units.

Mode of data collection

Other [oth]

Research instrument

The questionnaire contains the following sections:

Cover Page (Page 1) This contains the address box, contact particulars for assistance, spaces for changes in the name and location of sample establishment and head office information in case the questionnaire is endorsed to it and status codes of the establishment to be accomplished by PSA and its field personnel.

Survey Information (Page 2) This contains the survey objective and uses of the data, scope of the survey, confidentiality clause, collection authority, authorized field personnel, coverage, periodicity and reference period, due date for accomplishment and expected date when the results of the 2014 OWS would be available.

Part A: General Information (Page 3) This portion inquires on main economic activity, major products/goods or services and total employment.

Part B: Employment and Wage Rates of Time-Rate Workers on Full-Time Basis (Pages 4-5) This section requires data on the number of time-rate workers on full-time basis by time unit and by basic pay and allowance intervals.

Part C: Employment and Wage Rates of Time-Rate Workers on Full-Time Basis in Selected Occupations (Pages 6-9) This part inquires on the basic pay and allowance per time unit and corresponding number of workers in the two benchmark occupations and in the pre-determined occupations listed in the occupational sheet to be provided to the establishment where applicable.

Part D: Certification (Page 10) This portion is provided for the respondent's name/signature, position, telephone no., fax no. and e-mail address and time spent in answering the questionnaire.

Appropriate spaces are also provided to elicit comments on data provided for the 2014 OWS; results of the 2012 OWS; and presentation/packaging, particularly on the definition of terms, layout, font and color.

Part E: Survey Personnel (Page 10) This portion is for the particulars of the enumerators and area/regional supervisors and reviewers at the PSA Central Office and PSA Field Offices involved in the data collection and review of questionnaire entries.

Part F: Industries With Selected Occupations (Page 11) The list of industries for occupational wage monitoring has been provided to guide the enumerators in ensuring that the correct occupational sheet has been furnished to the respondent.

Selected Statistics from 2012 OWS (Page 12) The results of the 2012 OWS are found on page 12 of the questionnaire. These results can serve as a guide to the survey personnel in editing/review of the entries in the questionnaire.

Cleaning operations

Data are manually and electronically processed. Upon collection of accomplished questionnaires, enumerators perform field editing before leaving the establishments to ensure completeness, consistency and reasonableness of entries in accordance with the field operations manual. The forms are again checked for data consistency and completeness by their field supervisors.

The LSRSD personnel undertake the final review, coding of information on classifications used, data entry and validation and scrutiny of aggregated results for coherence. Questionnaires with incomplete or inconsistent entries are returned to the establishments for verification, personally or through mail.

Response rate

The response rate in terms of eligible units was 87.2%.

Data appraisal

The survey results are checked for consistency with the results of previous OWS data and the minimum wage rates corresponding to the reference period of the survey.

Average wage rates of unskilled workers by region is compared for proximity with the corresponding minimum wage rates during the survey reference period.