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Government Statistician responds to Grant Robertson

Government Statistician responds to Grant Robertson


16 August 2016

The following response to the media statement today by Grant Robertson MP can be attributed to Government Statistician Liz MacPherson.

Like my predecessors I am fiercely protective of the statutory independence of the role of the Government Statistician and strongly refute any assertions made by Grant Robertson that there has been political interference in the production of official statistics.

This independence means that I maintain the right to make changes necessary to ensure the relevance and quality of our official statistics. Changes to the Household Labour Force Survey have been made to ensure that we produce the best possible measure of the current state of the labour market and to maintain consistency with international best practice.

Far from ignoring technological change during the past 30 years, such as the advent of the internet, we are incorporating these changes so as to be technology neutral.

Within the survey questions, to be regarded as actively looking for a job you must do more than simply look at job advertisements, whether it is online or in a newspaper.

It is not uncommon for revisions to be made to official statistics as a result of more accurate information becoming available or changes to international standards and frameworks.

In addition we are introducing new measures – for example underutilisation – enabling a deeper, richer understanding of New Zealand’s labour market.

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When this does occur it is standard practice for Statistics NZ to communicate reasons for revisions and anticipated changes well in advance of their official release, as we did on 29 June 2016. View the Household Labour Force Survey – Revisions to labour market estimates.

Statistics NZ has a legislative obligation to release objective official statistics. We will continue to do this at all times.

For more information about this statement:

• Visit Government Statistician responds to Grant Robertson


ends

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