Collection of Data on Remittances Experience from the Ghana Living Standards Survey Grace Bediako Ghana Statistical Service

In this presentation The Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS) – What the survey regularly collects The first module on migration and remitances Issues to be addressed Some recommendations

The Ghana Living Standards Survey Plan to conduct GLSS every five years BUT in practice different intervals – !987/88 and 1988/89 – 1991/92 – 1998/99 – 2005/06

Objectives of the Survey Provide data for estimating levels and patters of household consumption and expenditure Deriving basic indicators for monitoring the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) Computing weights for the consumer price index (CPI) Generate data for national and regional planning

Content of the GLSS Questionnaire Demographic characteristics Education and skills training Health and fertility behaviour Employment and time use Migration and tourism Housing and housing conditions Agriculture Household income, consumption and expenditure Credit, assets and savings Non-farm household enterprises (Module)

Sample design Stratification by regions and rural/urban residence Aim to get estimates at: – Regional level – Capital city (and metropolis) – Rural/urban classifications (at regional and zonal levels)

Remittance data from the GLSS standard questionnaire Income Transfers and Miscellaneous Income and Expenditure – Transfer payments made by households – Transfer payments received by households Equal emphasis on sending and receiving

Remittances module Two components Information about members of the household who lived elsewhere and joined the household in the last five years Information about “members of the household” and others who live elsewhere and send transfers

Considerations in the inclusion of the module – Type of survey Independent survey (from the GLSS) – GLSS survey in progress, collecting much of the basic characteristics required for the Migrants and Remittances survey Using part of the GLSS sample – Interviewing of households was not centrally controlled, thus followed no set pattern, not random Using the whole GLSS sample – Would need to return to households already interviewed

Sampling considerations Do we need a specially designed sample for this subject? – Are residents of some areas (regions, districts, localities) more likely to migrate than others? – Do households in some areas (regions, districts, localities) have more or fewer relatives living abroad or some other areas within the country with better opportunities for employment and income? – Are residents of some areas (regions, districts, localities) more likely to receive remittances? – Are some migrants more willing than others to send remittance (responsive to the needs of those left behind)

Conceptual issues Clarifying the concept of household members – Should we be asking about household members living elsewhere? – What are the conditions under which one is no longer considered a household member?

Key lessons Analyze the available data more extensively: – To outline patterns and distribution of migration across the regions of Ghana – To assess the proportion of households that do not receive any remittances (domestic and/or foreign) Need some well tested questions to draw from: