Spending and Income Survey launched

 

The survey, which will run for a year, collects information about the spending habits and incomes of Jersey households. It isn’t feasible to ask everyone living in Jersey to take part in the survey, so a random sample of addresses is selected each month to represent the entire Island.

 

One of the main uses of the information collected by the survey is to calculate Jersey's rate of inflation, sometimes called the "cost of living". This is measured by the Jersey Retail Prices Index (RPI). It is vital to everyone that the RPI is accurate, as it is not only a key economic measure, but also often affects pay negotiations and rents, and is used to update a variety of benefits.

 

Income information collected from the survey will help to better understand how income levels vary for different types of households living in Jersey. This information can be used to study the impact of income support, taxes and benefits and to investigate the effect of housing costs on income levels for different types of households.

 

Duncan Gibaut, Chief Statistician said “I’d like to encourage households who are selected to help us by taking part in this important survey. They represent not only their own household but others in Jersey like theirs, ensuring that official statistics represent everyone in the Island.”

 

When the survey was last run 5 years ago, many households who took part commented that they found it a very interesting and useful budgeting exercise, and were positive about being part of something that is so important to Jersey. Another reason to take part is that participating households are offered the chance to be entered into a quarterly prize draw.

 

All information collected for the survey is treated as strictly confidential and will not be shared with anyone outside the Statistics Unit. The information will only be used to produce grouped statistics so that no person or household will be identifiable in the results.