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A Time Use Survey was run for the first time in 1998 on a one-off basis as a joint project between Statistics NZ and the Ministry of Women's Affairs. It was subsequently included as an element of the new Programme of Official Social Statistics. The Time Use Survey: 2009–2010, which is delayed from its original 2008–2009 date will be run by Statistics NZ and be repeated every eight to ten years. The survey will spend 1 year in the field starting from late 2009, with the first results becoming available in early 2011.
Since the Time Use Survey: 1998–99, new information needs regarding families, health and social interaction have emerged. The government has also highlighted three priority areas: economic transformation, families – young and old, and national identity. The Time Use Survey: 2009–2010 will provide information on all three priorities.
This survey is a component of the Programme of Official Social Statistics (POSS).
Survey objectives
The Time Use Survey: 2009–2010 aims to meet new information needs of stakeholders while maintaining comparability with the 1998–99 survey and keeping the compliance burden to an acceptable level. More specifically, the key research questions are:
- work-life balance: how do people divide their time between paid work, unpaid work, family and leisure?
- how do people schedule their paid work, and where do they do it?
- how socially connected are people with family, friends, from inside and outside their own households?
- how much does unpaid work contribute to the NZ economy?
- how do people spend their leisure time?
- who's caring for whom, for how much time and where?
Changes
The Time Use Survey: 2009–2010 will provide more up-to-date statistics on time use in New Zealand and, by comparison with the previous survey, some sense of changes in time use over the past decade. Specific improvements to the 2009–2010 survey include:
- reporting of 'who the respondent was with' when participating in each activity
- revision of activity coding system to incorporate more detailed classification of some activities
- revision of ‘for whom the activity was done’ coding system to incorporate more detailed classification of the field of work within non-profit institutions
- implementation of the new Statistics NZ core questions module
- use of Computer-Aided Interviewing (CAI) for the completion of both the household and personal questionnaires.
These improvements will bring the 2009–2010 survey more in line with international best practise and will generate an information base that will address a wider range of information needs.
Consultation and review of best practice for time use surveys
Key stakeholders were consulted regarding their interest in the survey and its potential to inform policy and research. The consultations are summarised in the paper below, together with an evaluation of the implications these uses have for the survey methodology, content and design.
Time Use Survey Scoping Paper.pdf (401 KB)
Your input
We welcome your comments to assist us to make the Time Use Survey: 2009–2010 products both relevant and accessible to users. Our key objective is to produce official statistics that are used to inform debate, research and decision making. To achieve this, we need you to tell us what you want to use the data for. Please refer to the content of the previous Time Use Survey for a list of the data items that will be collected, together with the 'Changes' above. Please note, items that had poor statistical reliability in the Time Use Survey: 1998–99 will not be collected in 2009–2010.
We would also like to hear about work you have done with data from the Time Use Survey: 1998–99 and any limitations you may have experienced.
Information and help
If you have any queries about the Time Use Survey please contact the Social Conditions Business Unit, Statistics New Zealand:
Email: social.conditions@stats.govt.nz
Phone: (04) 931-4600
Fax: (04) 931-4046
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