Labour Force Survey 2019
The Labour Force Survey report provides an analysis of the characteristics of the economic activity and labour force of the Cook Islands.
This Labour Force Survey report provides an analysis of the characteristics of the economic activity and labour force of the Cook Islands, as captured just prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. The Labour Force Survey is an essential tool to inform a wide range of national economic and social policies, including the response and recovery during COVID-19 pandemic. See Travel and Border Control Cook Islands for more information.
The findings from this survey can also inform decision-making, reporting and evaluation of the National Sustainable Development Goals, Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals. The survey offered the innovative opportunity to transit to the Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) method, thus shortening the interviewing time, facilitating the capturing of data and improving the overall quality of the results. The implementation of the 2019 Labour Force Survey was a multi-agency national project with close technical assistance provided from regional organisations.
The Cook Islands Statistics Office (CISO) worked closely with the Ministry of Internal Affairs (INTAFF) and the Island Governments throughout the duration of this project and would like to acknowledge the successful partnership that was created. Additional value was added at key points of the project by the proactive involvement of the two tripartite social partners:
• the Chamber of Commerce, representing businesses and
• the Cook Islands Workers Association, representing workers.
Furthermore, organisations from around the region played a vital role in providing technical assistance to the project and the CISO would like to thank firstly, the Pacific Community (SPC) through the Statistics for Development Division for aiding the office in the specialised areas of sampling, questionnaire design, data management and data processing.
Secondly, the International Labour Organization for providing financial and subject-matter support and training on ILO conventions, classifications and definitions. Lastly, the National Statistics Office of Vanuatu, for seconding their Survey Solutions expert through the South-South exchange programme in order to provide in-country training and support to both CISO and field operations staff.
The final group of people that need to be acknowledged are the field staff for the perseverance in getting high response rates from the households; the CISO and INTAFF office staff for managing and coordinating the project and lastly, the households that participated in the survey and provided valuable information.