Household survey to measure price level changes

Press, 30 December 1976, Page 7

Household survey to measure price level changes

Some New Zealand; households are keeping; detailed records of their; expenditure, taking part) in a household survey) conducted by the De-1 jpartment of Statistics. i From “Mrs X” in Kaitaial (to “Mrs Y” in Bluff, many I housewives are doing their shopping armed with notebooks to record their various • purchases. I Since 1973, more than 10.000 households have taken ■ part in the survey, which (covers all New Zealand. exIcept the offshore islands. Included are all types of | households, large and small, (family and non-family, and (all levels of income.

Households are interviewed ■ by trained interviewers, with detailed and carefully(designed questionnaires, and (are asked about expenditure during the preceding 12 1 ; months on major items, such (as housing, motor vehicle and I television sets. I Household • members 15 • years of age or over are given (personal diaries in which to record carefully every dollar land cent spent over a twoweek period. They are each (given a notebook and ballI point pen for on-the-spot listling of purchases and other j expenditure. ( The Department of Statisj tics has more than 80 part-1 (time survey interviewers (working throughout New! I Zealand. Most of them are!

women. They are specially trained in establishing friendly relationships with households. On many occasions they have assisted older persons to unpack groceries and write up the diaries. Interviewers make several visits to a household to gather all the required information on household composition, housing, insurance, education, and so on, and answer any queries. Hardly a week passes without. some mention of the Consumers Price Index in the newspapers, on radio or television. The Consumers Price ( Index measures the movement in the retail prices of nearly all the types of goods and sendees commonly bought by New Zealand households. Spending patI terns change over the years, . and the household survey | finds what people spend their (money on, and how much. ; This information, is used ( in keeping the Consumers 'Price Index up-to-date by ( indicating the items that should be included in the index and the importance or ’ weight” to give any particu-

lar item. For example, mone; spent on bread forms ; greater percentage of th average family’s expenditur than the purchase of a colou television set. Therefore a li per cent increase in the pric of bread has a greater impac on the family’s cost of livinj than an equivalent percent age increase in colour tele vision prices. The Consumers Price Inde: is very important to the eco nomic planners and decision makers and is often used a one of the bases for determin ing adjustments to wages an, salaries. Great care is taken to pre serve the anonymity of house holds and neither name nor addresses are recorded o: the questionnaires. AIT interviewers are bourn by a declaration of secrec and may not even reveal t their families any details o the households with whic they are working. The information obtaine from the survey is final! processed by computer int statistical summaries an

j these results are published in i an annual volume. : For the period July 1, 1974, !|to June 30, 1975, the aver'(age weekly expenditure per >! responding household was - $116.88. The percentage distribu'(tion of the average weekly ' expenditure over the eight, ’(expenditure groups was: Housing, 18.7 per cent; trans- ■ port 18.7 per cent; food 17.8 ’(per cent; household operation, 16.5 per cent; apparel, ’(8.7 per cent; tobacco and alJcohol, 4 per cent; other goods *(5.7 per cent; other services, 9.9 per cent. ' ( The Department of Statistics needs the co-operation of ’(all selected households to ’(make the household survey (a success. Members of housei (holds may find it difficult to '■(keep a record of every cent 3 spent for 14 days, but they f I will be rewarded by knowing 1 i that they are helping provide (accurate information about j the cost of living in New Zealand and they will disf cover, perhaps for the first 3 time, exactly where their 1 money goes.