In this issue
|  |
Upcoming release of data from the 2010 New Zealand General Social Survey
The New Zealand General Social Survey (NZGSS) is held every two years. It provides information on the well-being of New Zealanders aged 15 years and over. The survey was first run in 2008. The first release of data from the second survey in the series, NZGSS: 2010, will be on 1 November this year. A confidentialised unit record file (CURF) will also be available for data users on 1 December. The NZGSS covers a wide range of social and economic outcomes, and shows how different sub-population groups are faring. This information includes objective information about the circumstances of New Zealanders, as well as their assessment of different aspects of their lives. For more information about the survey and its content visit the GSS webpage. |  |
Recorded Crime Statistics: 2010 fiscal year – tables
The New Zealand Recorded Crime Tables for the 2010/11 fiscal year were released on 3 October. These tables are sourced from New Zealand Police administrative data on recorded and resolved crime, as well as offenders apprehended for these crimes. The offences and apprehensions data is available at the national level and also for the 12 New Zealand Police districts. Crime statistics for the 2011 calendar year will be released on 2 April 2012. |
2011 Population Association of New Zealand conference
Statistics NZ is a major sponsor of the two-yearly 2011 Population Association of New Zealand (PANZ) conference that will be held at the University of Auckland on 28 and 29 November 2011. Some of Statistics NZ’s population experts will be presenting papers at this conference. Professor Wei Li (Arizona State University, Asian Pacific American Studies) has been confirmed as the international plenary speaker. Go to www.population.org.nz for more information on this conference. | |
Free presentations and workshops Have you wondered where can you find more about how to find the official data or information that you, your organisation, or your clients need? Look no further. The Outreach and Liaison teams at Statistics NZ are available to provide presentations on the official statistics freely available on our website and the products, services, and online tools we have on offer. So what are you waiting for? Become a stats champion today – contact Statistics NZ on: Phone: 0508 525 525 (toll-free)
Email: info@stats.govt.nz.
| |
Keep track of changes to data and series identifiers in Infoshare
We offer an email notification service that will let you know when changes are happening in Infoshare. To subscribe, visit the Infoshare homepage. Full notices about data changes can also be found in Infoshare. | |
|
RSS feeds
Our RSS feeds help you to stay informed by personalising and simplifying how you access our releases. 
| |
Twitter
Join our 1,800+ followers on Twitter and stay up to date with the latest information releases.
| |
Contact us
The friendly team in our Information Centre are here to help. For more information: Phone: 0508 525 525 (toll-free)
Email: info@stats.govt.nz | |
| Price Index News – October 2011
The October issue of Price Index News is available. Read this quarterly newsletter, produced by Statistics New Zealand, for additional information about price index statistics. This issue includes: - how the prices of new cars tracked in the consumers price index (CPI) have changed over the past 12 years, both before and after adjustments were made to remove the effect of quality changes
- an article about how the CPI trimmed mean and weighted percentile measures have moved, with prices processed at 12.5 percent GST
- links to information papers about the 2011 reviews of the CPI and food price index baskets and weights
- an explanation of how the real estate and conveyancing components of the CPI are compiled
- an explanation of how the accommodation and package holidays components of the CPI are compiled.
Consumers price index review completed
The consumers price index (CPI) measures the rate of price change of goods and services purchased by households. We have completed a review of the CPI, which involved updating the basket of representative goods and services being tracked, and reviewing their relative importance in the basket.
Goods added to the basket include tablet computers, external computer hard drives, e-books, and flatbread. Services added include alarm monitoring and delivery charges. Goods removed from the basket include unflued gas heaters, dictionaries, and envelopes. The updated weights show decreases in the relative importance of the purchase of new housing, professional services associated with buying and selling houses, furniture, and cars. The relative importance of food, rent, and electricity have all increased. See Consumers price index review: 2011 for a full set of updated expenditure weights and more about the review. |  |
What do electoral enrolments, driver licence registrations, and sales of toothpaste have in common?
All these data sources have been proposed as ways of estimating local populations. In a recently released paper, Evaluation of alternative data sources for population estimates, some 20 different administrative and commercial data sources are evaluated for their official population estimates. The data sources vary considerably in what or who they measure, compared with estimates of the 'resident population'. Nonetheless, some of the administrative data sources are already being used, either directly or indirectly. Other data sources have potential. Investigating alternative data sources has been given recent impetus by the Canterbury earthquakes and changes to the frequency and timing of the Census of Population and Dwellings.
Historical yearbooks available online soon
We will soon be launching the digitised collection of historical New Zealand Official Yearbooks. The yearbook has been produced for over 135 years and provides a range of information about New Zealand, its people, government, and industry. The historical collection presents a detailed picture of life in New Zealand from 1875–2008. We recently announced the decision to stop producing a printed version of the yearbook. Cost and dramatic changes in how our society searches for information were contributing factors to this decision. We are currently investigating how we can best publish yearbook data and information online, alongside our historical collection. The official launch of the digitised historical yearbooks is planned for later this year. In the meantime, we welcome your feedback on how we can continue to make yearbook data available online. Please email your suggestions to yearbook@stats.govt.nz. |  |
Single download 10-digit Harmonised System (HS10) by country datasets now available online
For expert users who maintain their own database containing all overseas merchandise trade data, overseas merchandise trade datasets containing all HS10 by country data, for all months since January 2000 have been made available online. These compliment existing use of the same information currently available within Infoshare. The data can be found at the overseas merchandise trade datasets webpage. These files are in CSV format, and will be updated every month to coincide with the monthly overseas merchandise trade data release. The purpose of these datasets is to ensure the latest data up-to-date following the annual trade review – where confidential data may be released in any previously published period, and is easily available for users. For more information, please contact the overseas trade team at overseastrade@stats.govt.nz.
Major Harmonised System classification update just round the corner
The Harmonised System (HS) classification used in overseas merchandise trade data is about to undergo a significant revision in line with the NZ Tariff update at the same time. Although minor changes can happen quarterly, significant revisions are only made every five years. This next major revision, known as HS2012, will be implemented by the NZ Customs service and Statistics NZ on 1 January 2012.
Our current assessment is that it will not be as significant as the previous major revision (HS2007) however HS2012 will still have an effect for many overseas merchandise trade data users. An information web page has been created, Harmonised System 2012 and trade statistics, which provides some information about the classification changes, as well as an estimation of the effect on trade data. For more information, please contact the overseas trade team at overseastrade@stats.govt.nz. | |
Wet enough in 2010 to fill 10 Lake Taupos
Check out the recently released Water Physical Stock Account: 1995–2010 for information on New Zealand’s national and regional water balance. The report is one in a series of environmental accounts that provide information on the interaction between the environment and the economy.
The account provides detail on the inflows and outflows of water through the inland part of the hydrological cycle, changes in water storage, and estimates of livestock water use. Key components include: - precipitation
- evapotranspiration (transfer of water to atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration from plants)
- abstraction and discharge from hydroelectricity generation
- changes in groundwater, lakes, reservoirs, snow, and ice.
Highlights from the account include: - In 2010, over 613,000 gigalitres of precipitation fell on New Zealand.
- In 2010, New Zealand’s dairy cattle drank an estimated 113 gigalitres of water, enough to fill roughly 90 Olympic-sized swimming pools every day of the year.
- Between 1995 and 2010, groundwater volumes changed less than 1 percent.
- Between the years ended April 1995-2010 New Zealand’s estimated ice volume decreased by 21 percent.
See the water physical stock account media release for more interesting facts at a glance.
Improvements to international investment position statistics
We have made Improvements to New Zealand’s international investment position statistics by bringing new data into the official series and data previously footnoted to the official series. Specific areas of improvement include data on: assets held abroad by fund managers surveyed annually, undercoverage estimate for New Zealand’s portfolio equity investment in Australian-listed companies, and an estimate of outstanding loans for New Zealand students who are classed as overseas-based borrowers. The combined effect of these improvements (as shown in the latest Balance of Payments and International Investment Position release) has increased the level of New Zealand’s investment abroad and to reduce the net liabilities position by approximately $10 billion per quarter since the March 2001 quarter. The ratio of net international investment position (IIP) to GDP has decreased by as much as 6 percent as a result of the revisions. One important consideration is that the improvements fill some of the coverage gap. Work done in 2010 using Inland Revenue’s income data revealed areas unaccounted for in the IIP statistics. After the improvements brought in this year, assets and liabilities held by trusts and estates, partnerships, individuals, and small-sized companies are not currently surveyed or estimated for in IIP statistics. | |
Annual Enterprise Survey: 2010
The results of the Annual Enterprise Survey: 2010 financial year (provisional) were released on 16 September 2011. The Annual Enterprise Survey (AES) gives information on the financial performance and position of industry and sector groups operating within New Zealand. Output variables from the survey include income, expenditure, profit, purchases of fixed assets, and equity. Other economic variables such as return on assets, value-added and gross fixed capital formation can be derived from AES data.
The 2010 survey showed that both income and expenditure for all industries combined had declined when compared to 2009. This is the first time this has occurred since the survey was redeveloped in 1999. Nine of the 16 broad industry groups used to classify AES data had their total income fall. The financial and insurance service industry had the biggest declines in both income and expenditure. The largest increase in income was in the health care and social assistance industry.
New super synthetic data: New Zealand Income Survey Super SURF
We have recently released a set of synthetic unit record files (SURFs) which is larger and more sophisticated than earlier releases.
The New Zealand Income Survey Super SURF is a set of 100 SURFs based on data from the New Zealand Income Survey: June 2003 quarter. Each of the SURFs contains around 11,000 records with a mixture of categorical and numerical variables including income, hours worked, and demographic variables. Together the SURFs act like 100 samples taken from a portion of the New Zealand population between 25 and 64 years of age who participate in paid work. This is synthetic data, but many of the relationships between variables and their distributions are realistic. The data can be used for teaching about (for example) statistical inference, sampling theory, or exploratory data analysis. It can also be used as a source of unit-record data for developing analytical methods or statistical processes. | |
|
