CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY SECRETARIAT

TWENTY-EIGHTH MEETING OF THE RESTRICTED

STANDING COMMITTEE OF

CARIBBEAN STATISTICIANS SCCS/2003/28/28

Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands

3 - 5 November 2003 4 November 2003

2002/03 Progress Report

The Bermuda Department of Statistics

This report highlights the work programme and statistical activities carried out by the Bermuda Government, Department of Statistics from November 2002 to October 2003.

OUR VISION

A high performance work environment characterized by a culture of learning, innovation, synergy, integrity, excellence in service and professionalism.

OUR MISSION

We are committed to collect, process, analyze and provide a body of statistical information that is timely, accurate, relevant and reliable for dissemination to the Government and the general public.

STAFFING

The Department is currently staffed with a total of 28 persons of which 9 are in temporary positions. Five vacancies exist which includes the post of Economic Statistician, IT Officer and three technical support officers.

Division	Filled Posts	Vacant Posts	Temporary ≤ six months
Administration (includes Director)	3	0
Economics Statistics	5	3	3
Business Statistics	2	2	4
Social Statistics	4	0	1
Research Statistics	4	0	2

OVERSEAS TRAINING

November 18^th - December 6^th 2002 – CARICOM/CARTAC WORKSHOP

Officer participated in the two-week workshop on the ‘Implementation of the 1993 System of National Accounts (1993 SNA)’.

January 6^th-19^th, 2003 – Statistics Canada

Two officers participated in a one-week workshop to learn how to score Literacy booklets for the psychometric assessment of Bermuda’s adult population.

May 19^th -30^th, 2003 - US Bureau of Census, IPC

Officer attended the course: “National and Sub-national Population Projections Using the Census Bureau’s Rural-Urban Projection (RUP) Program”.

August 17^th -26^th, 2003 – Statistics Canada

Officer attended the six-week “Survey Skills Development Course for Household Surveys”.

October 13^th –November 15^th, 2003 – Bureau of Labor Statistics

Officer attending two courses: “Analyzing Labor Statistics” and “Projecting Tomorrow’s Workforce Needs”.

LOCAL TRAINING

The Department seeks to develop a balance in the type of training provided for its staff members. As a result, it promotes and emphasizes training and development in both technical and interpersonal and social skills. The following outlines workshops that officers have participated in during the year.

· Time Management – 3 officers

· Communication skills – 2 officers

· The Role of the First Line Manager – 1 officer

· SPSS Training, Window Version 11.5 – 4 officers

· On-the-job training in CSPro – two officers

REGULAR WORK PROGRAMME

The daily work programme continues to consist of conducting the on-going surveys for data collection, compilation and dissemination. These include:

· Monthly Survey of Retail Sales

· Monthly Survey of Consumer Prices

· Monthly Survey of Overseas Spending by Residents

· Quarterly Survey of Construction Activity

· Quarterly Survey of Hotel Gross Receipts

· Annual Employment Survey

· Annual Economic Activity Survey

· Quarterly Hotel Employment Survey

CONSULTANCY SERVICES PROVIDED

· Ministry of Finance - development of income subsidy methodology for family victims of Hurricane Fabian.

· Ministry of Health & Family Services – development of a statistical database for emergency relief programme.

· HM Customs & Immigration Departments – training in interview techniques.

· Department of Airport Operations – conduct of quarterly survey.

· The Bank of NT Butterfield & Son Ltd. – development of demographic profile for residents in a specific area of the city centre to determine the suitability of establishing an additional bank.

· Ministry of Health & Family Services – assessment of their report on Bermuda’s Homeless Population.

· International Committee, Habitat for Humanity – produced varying tables from Census data on Household type to assist in their investigation of overcrowding and affordable housing in Bermuda.

Highlights of Social Statistics Work Programme

1. During the past year, the Social and Demographic section experienced a number of challenges. The Social Statistician was on leave for an extended period of time, which limited instruction and guidance to officers in the section.

2. Additionally, one officer was promoted and moved to another section of the Department leaving a temporary gap. As a result, the work programme was reduced.

3. However, with the recruitment of new staff, the Social Statistician has focused primarily on training and developing promotional activities for the dissemination of Census 2000 data to the general public.

PUBLIC AWARENESS ACTIVITIES - CENSUS 2000 DATA

First time sale of the Census of Population & Housing report in the retail sector.
Production of census fact sheets on household composition and housing delivered to all households via post office.
Census brief on Senior Citizens placed in newspaper supplement focusing on seniors in Bermuda.
Newsletters entitled Because People Count! targeting Primary and Middle Schools distributed during government career fair.
Census brief on the population, education and income released with mail-out of quarterly press release to businesses.

Highlights of Business Statistics Work Programme

1. The Business Statistician has been diligently pursuing the development of a Website for the Department. It is being designed by the Government’s IT Office and as such, progress has been very slow as they deal with other commitments.

2. Also, the Department is steering a new initiative to implement on-line filing for the annual employment survey. This is being coordinated with the Department of Human Affairs - Commission for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE) who already have an e-survey system in place that collects similar information. The objective is to minimize the burden of response for businesses which participate in both surveys.

3. A job description is being developed to hire an in-house IT Officer in 2004. The objective is to have: an information system infrastructure developed that supports the Departments strategic plan; customized software solutions for enhancing the Department’s business processes; and, network/PC administration and technical support.

Highlights of Economic Statistics Work Programme

The National Accounts and Economic Statistics section has been without a Statistician to oversee the work programme since January 2003. Advertisements are currently in place to fill this post.

NATIONAL ACCOUNTS

In May 2003, National Accounts Specialist, Ms. Ione Marshall was contracted for three months to train staff in estimating Gross Domestic Product using the Supply and Use Table.

Work Accomplished

1. Completion of 2001 national accounts estimates for industrial sections likely to pose the greatest challenge, either in terms of size or complexity. These included wholesale and retail, banking and insurance, construction and general business activities.

2. A comprehensive review and clean-up of trade data was carried out. The complete tabulation and analysis of the 2001 import data covered:

· Extracting data on f.o.b. value and import duties for each commodity by tariff number;

· Transforming f.o.b. values to c.i.f. values; and,

· Assigning BCEA industry codes and BEC codes to each commodity.

3. Guidance and instruction in procedures such as:

· Identifying and recording secondary output;

· Assigning trade margins; and,

· Balancing input use estimated through the economic survey with input use estimated using the commodity flow method.

4. Detailed instruction was given in the general classification of businesses and the treatment of consolidated activities and non-profit institutions.

2003 ECONOMIC ACTIVITY SURVEY

A sample of 1,500 businesses was selected to participate in the survey.
The survey was launched in May 2003.
Deadline for receipt of questionnaires - end June 2003.
A total of 675 follow-up calls made to businesses prior to June 30^th.
A total of 607 questionnaires received by June 2003.
Response rate at September 2003 - 74.7%.

Highlights of Research Statistics Work Programme

2003 Adult Literacy & Life-skills Survey

Survey was launched in March 2003.
Survey targeted the adult population age 16-65 years.
Participating countries included Statistics Canada, Norway, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, USA, Chile, Italy, Sweden, and Finland.
A sample of 6,000 households was randomly selected to obtain a total of 3,000 completed questionnaires.
The field work ended on August 31^st2003.
Data entry was completed on October 18^th with the data file cleaned for final dissemination to Statistics Canada on October 31st.
A literacy level ranking is expected for all participating countries in February 2004.

2004 HOUSEHOLD iNCOME AND EXPENDITURE SURVEY

A needs assessment was carried out in August 2003.
Preliminary work commenced in September to launch the survey in May 2004.
A sample of 1,200 households will be surveyed.
A Bermuda COICOP will be produced by end of November.
The re-design of the questionnaire has commenced for completion in February 2004.
Other survey preparatory work in progress.

ADMINISTRATION

Promotions: Chief Statistician, Census & Survey Officer, 3 Statisticians Level I
New Appointments: 3 Statistical Officers Level II; Secretary.
Study Leave: One Statistician Level I currently on 3-month leave completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics.
Graduates: One Technical Support Officer received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration.

FUTURE INITIATIVES

Production of a three-year strategic business plan.
Conduct of 2004 Household Income & Expenditure Survey.
Development of new benchmark figures for personal household final consumption for GDP.
Re-weighting of the Consumer Price Index and implementation of an up-dated base year.
Development of Population Projections up to 2010.
Production of a Census Wall Chart/Data Sheet.
Census Monograph on the population 65 years and older.
Census Monograph on the Labour Force.
Conduct of Census-related seminars for the general public.
Re-vamp and computerization of the annual Digest of Statistics.
Development of a regular social statistics brief highlighting social issues.
Department Website and on-line filing for surveys.
Development of Productivity Indicators for the economy.
Calculation and analysis of economic multipliers.

Valerie Robinson-James

Chief Statistician

Bermuda

October 2003