Chief Statistician Lennox Benjamin yesterday said that the National Bureau of Statistics is “slightly behind” its announced six-week enumeration schedule for the census, after some enumerators quit because they have found the work too daunting.
“We have had the reality check that some of the enumerators that were trained and were put in the field from all appearances have found the work daunting… We have had that challenge of persons who have actually started the work as enumerators and have since dropped out. We have found at this time the greater propensity being those in the coastal regions,” Benjamin said yesterday at a press conference held at the Bureau’s High Street office.
The enumeration exercise for the 2012 Population and Housing Census 2012, which is budgeted at US$4 million, began on September 15.
Benjamin did not give a figure of how many of the enumerators have thrown in the towel but stated that they began with 2,400 in the field and now they are just above 2,000. When he and his deputy, Vanessa Profit, were further pressed on the number, it was stated that just fewer than two hundred enumerators have walked off the job.
Benjamin was also quick to point out that the Bureau had persons who were trained but were not initially out in the fields and they have now been drafted in and those who have a good track record have been awarded a greater workload to complete.
“It is a point of fact that some enumerators are more proficient than others and complete their assigned areas well in advance of the scheduled timeframe, so in the reassignment…of [extra areas] to enumerators we always, as a priority, give those additional [areas] to such enumerators that [have proven] to be very proficient, very speedy in the field [and] who are delivering a high quality of work in terms of picking up the slack,” he explained.
He said the situation is not unique to this census as it has happened in all previous exercises. He pointed out that they have “over trained” the number of persons needed but he added that they prefer to work with people already in the field as opposed to bringing in new persons.
Benjamin said in the past, they have had issues of not only persons dropping out but they were not making contact with the office. As a result, for this census there are permanent staff members of the Bureau who are responsible for the regions as opposed to persons who are temporarily recruited.
Benjamin would not say by how much the exercise would go over its estimated timeline as a result of the walk offs, but he disclosed yesterday that as the enumeration exercise enters the fifth week, regions 4 and 6 are behind schedule. However, he said, there is no reason to “panic.”
He said in the coastal area, where the population density is at the highest, they would have to put in a greater effort of work. He also noted that on the coast, many people are not at home during the weekdays so the enumerators are forced to do much of their work at the weekends.
He added that from reports, there have been rare instances of persons being uncooperative with the workers.
And while some regions are behind schedule, he noted that enumeration in some of the interior locations is going well and is expected to be completed before the scheduled time.
“In four of the regions, we are well ahead of schedule among these being some of the interior regions…like Region One, Region Eight and Region Nine and that is very heartening given the type of terrain and conditions that the census workers face in doing enumeration in those regions,” he said.
“We are heartened, in terms of our experience relative to previous censuses that the interior regions at this time are so far ahead of schedule and completion,” he added.
Meanwhile, in observance of Caribbean Statistics Day, observed yesterday, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh in a statement commended the work of the bureau, saying although it is a small office, it continues to meet all challenges, despite restraints and contributes both nationally and regionally to the provision of in demand statistical data of all dimensions. He noted that Bureau’s full participation in such regional and wider geographical groupings such as the Statistical Conference of the Americas, the Standing Committee of Caribbean Statisticians, and as a member of the Interim Working group for the conference of Commonwealth Statisticians and the statistical conference of the Organisation of Islamic Countries.
Caribbean Statistics Day, now in the fourth year since Caricom inaugurated it, was observed under the theme ‘Working together to improve Statistics in the 21st Century and Beyond.’
