Organization and Objectives of the Survey
Sampling Design and Implementation
Questionnaires
Training and Fieldwork
Data Processing
Response Rate
Reliability of Estimates

The 1995 National Survey on Working Children (NSWC) is a nationwide sample survey designed to collect data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of working children with ages 5 to 17 through personal interviews. It was undertaken as part of International Labor Organization’s International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) Action Program entitled "Reporting the State of the Nation’s Working Children: a Statistical Program for Advocacy on the Elimination of Child Labor and the Protection of Working Children in the Philippines." The Survey was conducted in Cooperation with the Department of Labor and Employment through its statistical arm, the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES). The result of the survey serves as benchmark information on the activities of all children aged 5 - 17 needed for national development planning and labor law enforcement monitoring.

Specifically, the survey aimed at:

1. Designing a conceptual and operational definition of child labor applicable to the Philippine setting, which is consistent to the extent possible with, international definitions and conventions as well as national legislation;

2. Developing and implementing a cost-effective nationwide system to regularly monitor child labor data through the inclusion in the Philippines statistical calendar, a module on child labor issue. Because comprehensive and up-to-date statistical data are essential tool for these purposes, there is a need for periodic production and assessment of such data through the application of appropriate measurement technology which should be improved and used on a continuing basis;

3. Disseminating the data nationwide through the publication of a national report and the conduct of a series of national and regional briefings. These briefings aim to reach local government units, public authorities and concerned citizens of the nature and extent of child labor in various localities. In this way, statistics become an effective tool for mobilizing public opinion and concern on the issues of child labor.

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The Integrated Survey of Households (ISH) was used as a frame, to generate a nationally representative sample of children aged 5 - 17 years. The ISH was developed in 1980 to collect information on employment and other socio-economic characteristics of households. It consists of 2,100 samples of primary sampling units (psu’s) systematically selected, with a probability proportional to size, in each of the 15 regions. The psus’s were again selected in 1991, using the 1990 Population Census data on population size, but retaining the maximum number of psu’s selected in 1980.

The sample is self-weighted in each of the 15 regions. The selection was done separately for the urban and rural areas, using a two-stage sample design. The first stage is the selection of barangays, and the second stage is the selection of households in the sample barangays. Individual households were selected with a probability of selection inversely proportional to the barangay’s size to maintain a fixed overall sampling fraction within each region.

The reporting unit is the household. This means that the statistics emanating from this survey refer to the characteristics of the population residing in private households. Persons who reside in the institutions and establishments are not covered by the survey.

The survey involves the collection of data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of working children between the ages of 5 to 17.

There were two types of questionnaires used for this survey: The SCL Form 1, the household module entitled "Survey on the Socio-Economic Profile of Filipino Households" and SCL Form 2, the individual questionnaire called "Survey of Working Children 5 - 17 Years Old."

The household and individual questionnaires were developed in English and then translated into the six major dialects, namely: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, Bicol and Waray.

The household questionnaire was used to list all the usual members of the household. It also collected information on household operated activities, perceptions of parents on their working children between the ages of 5 to 17, information on children living away from home, awareness of child recruitment, migration, family income and expenditures and housing characteristics. The main purpose of the household questionnaire was to identify the eligible respondents to the individual questionnaire.

The individual questionnaire was used to collect information from children between the ages 5 to 17 who were identified from SCL Form 1 to have worked for at least one hour in the past 12 months, i.e. from August 1994 to July 1995. These children were asked questions on the following topics:

1. working status
2. perception about last/present job & future plans
3. recreation/leisure time
4. schooling status
5. economic status
6. job search
7. recruitment of children to work elsewhere
8. evaluation of the interviewer on the respondent

The 1995 NSWC questionnaires were pre-tested in June 1995. Four barangays from Malolos and Calumpit, Bulacan were selected. The pre-test results were used as basis for revising the questionnaires and the translations into six dialects. They also provided a basis for firming up survey operational procedures.

Training of field staff for the main survey was conducted in two levels: regional and provincial. Central Office personnel who underwent the Task Force training in Manila acted as resource persons iduring the training for field personnel. The training course consisted of instructions in general interviewing techniques, field procedures, a detailed discussion of items on the questionnaires, mock interviews between participants in the classroom, and practice interviews in the field.

Editing of the questionnaires was an integral part of the field data collection in the sense that questionnaires based on successful interviews were immediately edited by field personnel. Further review and coding of some variables were done at the NSO Central Office. Machine processing was also done at the Central Office.

Processing of the 1995 NSWC was done with the use of the US Bureau of Census computer program IMPS (Integrated Microcomputer Processing System), from the data entry to tabulation. Initial tabulations were generated by the end of January 1995. Based on the initial tabulations, further field evaluation was done by Central Office personnel to reaffirm the validity of responses originally supplied by the respondents.

A total of 18,191 households out of 25,491 sample households was found to have members aged 5 - 17 years old. Out of 18,191 households, 18,001 were successfully interviewed. The difference was due to one of the following reasons: some selected households refused to be interviewed or they were not available during the enumeration.

A total of 44,738 children between the ages of 5 - 17 were identified in the households interviewed. Of these number, 6,728 or 15.04%. were found working based on the household questionnaire. Out of this number 6,621 children were successfully interviewed. The difference was due to the same reasons stated above.

Below is the table for the computed standard error and confidence interval for the estimate of the number of children 5 - 17 years old who worked for at least one hour at anytime during the past 12 months for a level of significance of five percent.