International Labor Migration 2010-2012, Baseline, Benchmark and Endline Surveys

Early in 2010, we randomly selected 42 barangays from six municipalities in Sorsogon Province in which to conduct the baseline survey. We collected a household roster from each barangay that included a list of households, and we used these to set barangay-specific target sample sizes proportional to population. We targeted approximately 5% of the total population from each barangay, or roughly 26%of households. We sorted households randomly and selected the first listed households to be our target. When a household could not be located or had no eligible members, we replaced it with the next household on the list.

From each household, interviewers screened the first member they met who had never worked abroad and was age 20-45. Subsequent to the baseline survey, we learned from recruitment agencies that most individuals over age 40 would not be eligible for overseas work, so we restricted our baseline sample to the 4,153 individuals age 20-40 we interviewed. Houses selected were typically far enough apart from each other that concerns about information spillovers are second order; to the extent that there were spillovers, our treatment estimates are lower bounds on the differential impact of more information. The passport assistance was only offered to the respondents themselves, and so it is not subject to such spillovers.