Social Well-being in New Zealand Insights from the New Zealand - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Social Well-being in New Zealand Insights from the New Zealand General Social Survey 2012 Philip Walker and Henriette Rawlings

The New Zealand General Social Survey Face-to-face interviews with 8,500 people nationwide Held every two years since 2008 Data available now from 2008, 2010, 2012 A multidimensional survey of well-being 2

Social wellbeing: measurement beyond GDP “gross national product … measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile” Robert F Kennedy. Kansas. March 18th 1968 3

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Why measure Overall Life Satisfaction? People are generally the best judges of how their own lives are going How we respond to circumstances can be as important as the circumstances themselves Measuring life satisfaction complements objective measures like income because it recognises individual preference

According to OECD data, New Zealand levels of overall life satisfaction are above average and comparable to those of Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Life Life satisfaction and GDP per capita - OECD data

NZGSS objectives To measure the To measure the To enable social well-being distribution of analysis of the of New wellbeing interrelationship Zealanders among sub of outcomes across life populations of across domains domains. policy interest

Cross-domain analysis “Developments in one domain of quality of life affect other domains” “The consequences for quality of life of having multiple disadvantages far exceed the sum of their individual effects” Stiglitz, Sen & Fitoussi, 2009.

The GSS asks people about their: Overall life satisfaction Health Standard of living Housing Safety & security Human rights Knowledge and skills Paid work Leisure & recreation Physical environment Social Connectedness Culture and identity By core demographics such as age, sex, ethnicity, migrant status (including children of migrants) 10

Unique value of this data National survey of well-being Robust statistics – use of Statistics Act 1975, survey methodology Data available at regional level Applications for the monitoring of social, community and regional outcomes Sustainable, affordable, embedded 11

What NZGSS tells us 87% of New Zealander‟s said they were „very satisfied„ or „satisfied‟ with their lives overall But life satisfaction is not evenly distributed across the population

Among those New Zealanders less satisfied with their lives overall : Unemployed people People in one parent family households People living with household incomes below $30,000 People in the middle life stages

Unemployed : 3x more likely to be very dissatisfied/dissatisfied than employed. Family : 78% very satisfied/satisfied in one parent compared to 89% in couple with or without children households. Income: noticeable drop off at $30K but at higher levels effect trails off. Age: U shaped relationship between life satisfaction and age. Younger and older tend to report higher levels. 14

Important aspects of well-being Four aspects of people‟s lives have a strong relationship with their overall life satisfaction • Health • Money • Relationships • Housing • Social well being interactive tool www.stats.govt.nz/nzgss 15

Better health > (Employment, HH income over $100K, higher qualifications (>BA) , home ownership, Europeans/ Asians rather than Māori/ Pacific) Enough money > (Older age, no children, employment, home ownership, living outside Auckland) Loneliness > (one parent families, younger age, renting, living in Wellington, females, unemployed) Housing problems < (HH income over $100K, people born in NZ, over 65yrs rather than 25 – 44 years, home ownership) 16

We found that … 17

People with all four good outcomes were more likely to be Older – 45 years more than 15-24 years European more than Maori/Pacific Born in New Zealand more than recent migrants Tertiary qualified Living in a high income household - $100K + Living in a couple-without-children family as against one parent families. 18

Putting data in your hands “Data remains data until it‟s used. Once it‟s used it becomes knowledge” Government statistician Liz McPherson 19

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Regional high charts Selected well being variables across 16 regional council areas Dynamic graphs showing 2008, 2010 and 2012 data Link to Highcharts http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/people_ and_communities/Well-being/across-regions.aspx 21

Adding value to regional monitoring Legislative change within the local government sector with implications for community outcomes. Planning and monitoring through council long term and annual plans. Potential for use of NZGSS data for spatial plans and regional monitoring. 22

NZ Treasury Living Standard Framework 23

The GSS vehicle and supplement(s)

GSS 2014 Overview Social Well-being Population (C) Age Sex Social Marital Status Ethnicity Country of Birth/ Year of arrival Relationship in household Maori Descent Dependent children Region Family type Subjective Knowledge Leisure and Physical Culture and Social Human Safety and Economic Standard Paid Work Health Housing Well-being and Skills Recreation Environment Identity Connectedness Rights Security of Living -Self assessed -Personal income (C) -Satisfaction with housing -Satisfaction with -National identity, -Discrimination -Overall life general health status -Sources of personal -Problems with housing amount of leisure time sense of belonging -Tolerance of diversity satisfaction -Self assessed income (C) -Sector of landlord -Barriers to leisure -Ability to express - Trust in institutions - Eudemonic physical health status -Household income -Number of bedrooms identity -Voting participation well being (SF12) (C) -Tenure of household (C) -Generation of New -Self assessed mental -Multiple deprivation Zealander health status (SF12) (ELSI) -Cigarette smoking - Material Wellbeing behaviour Index (9 item) -Experience of safety & -Labour force status (C) -Highest qualification (C) -Satisfaction with built -Contact with family & friends security issue -Main occupation -Satisfaction with own skills environment -Barriers to more social -Type of safety and -Usual hours worked & knowledge -Satisfaction with natural contact security issue -Number of jobs -Reasons for dissatisfaction environment -Formal voluntary work -Job satisfaction -Adverse impacts of with own skills & knowledge -Attitudes relating to -Informal unpaid work outside safety and security -Prefer more or less hours -Barriers to gaining more sustainability home issues -Type of job knowledge and skills -Behaviours relating to - Feelings of isolation -Perceptions of safety & -Perception of importance of sustainability -Support across households security (walk alone, at education -Preparedness for natural -Availability of help in times of home, on net) disasters (potential (mini need -victim of crime supplement 2014) - Generalised trust - perception of neighbourhood anti social behaviour Social networks and support supplement 2014: Major topic areas: • Characteristics of Social Network Key: • Strength of Social Network • Items in black are GSS primary content • Effectiveness of Social network • Items in blue are new additions Includes sub topics: • Items in red with strikethrough are existing GSS - Contact with family and friends content not included in GSS 2014 (but may be - Network size and composition included in future supplements) - Diversity of social networks • - Household relationships Items in purple are considered for one off - Social support inclusion in 2014 - Support during a significant life change

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GSS programme 2016 & 2018 Potential topics Civic and cultural participation 2016? Housing and physical environment 2018? Or ? You tell us… 27

Formal consultation for NZGSS 2016 will begin in early 2014. Have your say. Once topic is selected, an objectives paper will be developed. Consultation on the objectives and specific measures will begin in mid 2014. 28

Contact us Information Centre PO Box 2922 Wellington 6140 Ph: 0508 525 525 toll free Email: info@stats.govt.nz Fax +64 9 920 9395 www.stats.govt.nz/nzgss 29

Questions? 30