Changes to The Social Report 2010
Changes made to the domains and indicators used in the report are detailed in the table below.
Table AP1 Changes to the domains and indicators in The Social Report 2010
| Outcome domain |
Change |
| Knowledge and skills |
In the participation in early childhood education indicator, the first measure is described as the “enrolment rate” (previously “apparent participation rate”) for consistency with the Ministry of Education’s reporting. The measure itself has not changed. |
| Paid work |
The unemployment and employment indicators in this edition are based on December years.
In the 2009 report, data for March years was presented as a temporary measure to capture the initial effect of the economic recession.
The workplace injury claims indicator has been renamed work-related injury claims,
for consistency with the Statistics New Zealand data source. |
| Economic standard of living |
The market income per person indicator is based on December years, the latest data available
at the time of production. |
| Civil and political rights |
The voter turnout indicator includes new information from the New Zealand General
Social Survey (NZGSS) on voter characteristics.
The perceptions of discrimination indicator includes new information on personal experience
of discrimination from the NZGSS |
| Leisure and recreation |
The participation in arts and cultural activities is now based on data from Creative New Zealand’s survey, New Zealanders and the arts: Attitudes, attendance and participation in 2008. The content of the indicator has changed accordingly. |
| Physical environment |
The two indicators in this domain – air quality and drinking water quality – have been deleted.
Both indicators focus on particular areas of New Zealand and monitoring change at the national level is therefore not feasible. For air quality, it is difficult to estimate the populations affected, and this is a key requirement for a social report. For water quality, there are different levels of monitoring for different sizes of drinking-water supply and this makes it difficult to interpret the data. These indicators fit better in environmental monitoring reports and are reported by other agencies.
For the latest environmental health indicators report refer to Ministry of Health. 2009. Environmental Health Indicators for New Zealand 2008 - http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/environmental-health-indicators-for-nz-2008. Wellington: Ministry of Health.
For the most recent Annual Review of Drinking-Water Quality In New Zealand - http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/annual-review-drinking-water-quality-nz-2007-08, from the Ministry of Health website.
For the most recent environmental indicator report cards for air quality see: Ministry for the Environment. 2010. Environmental Report Cards - http://www.mfe.govt.nz/environmental-reporting/report-cards/.
Because these two indicators have been deleted and no other suitable indicators could be found in time, there is no Physical Environment domain in this report. |
| Social connectedness |
The telephone and internet access indicator has been updated with household data from the 2009 Household Use of Information and Communications Technology survey.
The indicator on regular contact with family or friends has been replaced with data from the New Zealand General Social Survey (NZGSS) and renamed contact with family and friends. The previous measure (“had family or friends over for a meal at least once a month”) has been replaced with a subjective measure – that respondents felt the amount of contact they have with friends or family is “about right”.
A new indicator on voluntary work has been included in this domain, based on NZGSS data. |
| Life satisfaction |
This is a new domain, with one new indicator on overall life satisfaction, based on NZGSS data. |
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