Four surveys to end – Media release

4 June 2019

Four industry sector surveys will cease in the next financial year, 2019/20, Stats NZ said today.

The surveys are:
• Accommodation (monthly – ends in November 2019, with publication of September 2019 data)
• Energy Use (annual – no further publication)
• Screen Industry (annual – no further publication)
• Internet Service Providers (annual – no further publication).

The surveys will cease because Stats NZ is under significant cost pressures and is no longer able to run them based on present funding. Some of these surveys were run in consultation, and with funding, from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Stats NZ regularly reviews surveys to make sure they are cost effective and meet the needs of users for reliable data, without imposing undue time and effort for businesses completing them.

“Government agencies regularly look at how taxpayers’ money is spent. We need to get a better value when collecting data, in the interests of all taxpayers,” Deputy Government Statistician Denise McGregor said.

“We understand that some groups may be disappointed by the loss of these surveys, because they provide important market updates on their particular sectors.

“But the world is changing rapidly. For example, the accommodation sector has seen the advent of the sharing economy with online holiday-home providers such as AirBnB and BookaBach, which are not represented in the Accommodation Survey.

“Stats NZ would like to acknowledge the time and effort that people in these four sectors put into completing the surveys, for the benefit of all New Zealanders.”

Stats NZ will continue to work with government agencies, industry sectors, and interest groups to consider other ways of filling some of the gaps created by the end of these surveys.

Ends

© Scoop Media