Labour Market Statistics - Plugging the Gaps

Official statistics have not kept pace with the deregulation of the labour market in the 1990s. Beginning in 1992 with the Rose Review' there have been several assessments of the gaps and what is required to plug them. The report of the Prime Ministerial Task Force on Employment in 1994 and the 1996 work of an interdepartmental working group reached similar conclusions about the needs. In the last two years some important advances have occurred. The 1996 Census of Population extended the coverage of education and training topics. Central government funding was obtained for Household Labour Force Survey supplements on education and training (once only) and income (annually). Results from all three supplements will be available in 1997. Feasibility studies, funded by a group of Government agencies, have been done on employer's training practices and expenditure. Statistics New Zealand has developed new classifications for levels of educational attainment and field of educational study. There are still a number of unmet needs, particularly in the areas of labour market dynamics, workplace industrial relations, employment-related business statistics and Maori labour force involvement. Options for funding these have been explored in 1996 with no positive outcomes yet