In Pursuit of Paradigm Shift in Statistics Management

KOSTAT looks to make statistics serve as 'the dashboard of state policies'

Korea has become the first Asian country to be elected to one of the co-chair posts of the Bureau of the OECD Committee on Statistics (CSTAT) for a one-year term this year. The election is expected to represent Korea and Asia’s positions on setting future major agendas.
Woo Ki-Jong, Commissioner of Statistics Korea (KOSTAT), led a Korean delegation at the 43rd session of the United Nations Statistics Commission held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from Feb. 24 to March 2, 2012. The Korean delegation presented important in-depth insights into enormous development practices in green growth and ICT statistics that have attracted global attention.
KOSTAT Commissioner Woo said, “KOSTAT is striving to establish a national statistical data system to make statistics serve as the dashboard of state policies.”
He said, “KOSTAT plans to develop five kinds of new statistics, using administrative data, while replacing some survey categories in eight other kinds of current statistics. We’re seeking to compile data on farming land areas and rice farming areas via satellite data.”
KOSTAT is also building a Generic Statistical Information System (GSIS) designed to standardize the whole process of statistics production and an integrated microdata management system for statistics dissemination, Woo said.
The following are excerpts of an interview between NewsWorld and the KOSTAT Commissioner in which he spoke of his agency’s major tasks and future plans.
Question: Will you introduce to our readers KOSTAT’s major tasks and plans for 2012?
Answer: KOSTAT is striving to develop statistics tailored to meet policy demands and build a system for providing policy guidelines in order to establish infrastructure for making statistical indicators serve as the dashboard of state policies. We offer statistical data on youth, female, and other social strata attracting public attention and provide in-depth analyses of the latest economic issues and census results.
We are developing a household panel survey, a future projection of household, analysis of low-birth rate, and stats on giving culture in order to stabilize people’s lives, while seeking to produce stats on the employment of foreigners and revamp social indicators to reflect social changes. In an effort to raise economic predictability, KOSTAT is seeking to overhaul composite indexes of business indicators, mining industry indexes, service industry production, and other indexes, while expanding field surveys of agricultural products that are undergoing wild price fluctuations in an effort to stabilize demand and supply of agricultural products.
An integrated microdata system will be built with the provision of services via social network services(SNS) and smart devices to improve the availability of statistical data while reinforcing the protection of the privacy and safety of personal information.
KOSTAT plans to develop five kinds of statistics, including statistics on wage income earners’ jobs using administrative data while replacing some survey categories in eight other kinds of statistics. We’re seeking to compile data on cultivated land areas and rice cultivated land areas via satellite data.
Q: People say there is a wide gap between price indexes and what they perceive. What are some measures in place to cope with the discrepancy?
A: Some gap between price indexes and what people perceive is inevitable since there should be a discrepancy from current reality from the base year of 2010 due to changes in consumption patterns. Price statistics are based on all goods, including durable items, whereas “perceived” prices are determined primarily based on items people frequently buy.
KOSTAT has diverse steps in place to address the discrepancy between price indexes and perceived prices to some extent.
We produce and announce the Consumer Price Index for Living Necessaries, based on the items closely related to the lives of people in the middle and low-income bracket, on top of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to give a better explanation of the reality. The base year of the indexes is now changed every five years to reflect changed life patterns.
KOSTAT is considering changing the items and weights of the CPI every three years instead of the current five years in order to better enhance statistical reliability and policy efficiency.
Q: Of late, the unemployment rate is the biggest issue. How does KOSTAT handle the management of unemployment statistics?
A: KOSTAT is conducting a sample survey of 32,000 households every month to announce the unemployment rate and other major employment indexes.
OECD member countries, including Korea, compile such employment indexes in accordance with a recommendation by the International Labor Organization (ILO), which defines the jobless as those who are without jobs, have actively sought work, and are eager to work if they find jobs during the surveyed period.
Korea’s unemployment rate stood at 3.4 percent, quite lower than the average of 8.2 percent for OECD member countries. The reason for this is because the Korean labor market has a structure of a higher percentage of self-employed people and fishing and farming workers compared to their OECD-member counterparts. Korea’s self-employed people and fishing and farming workers accounted for 28.2 percent and 6.4 percent in 2011, quite higher than the 15.8 percent and 4.0 percent averages for OECD counterparts recorded in 2010.
Q: Will you introduce your agency’s efforts to innovate the nation’s statistics paradigm?
A: The Korean statistics sector is pressed for a paradigm shift in three aspects, and KOSTAT is actively working toward it.
First, it calls for a paradigm shift to help statistics take the initiative in policy making. Policy makers have so far established policies by the seat-of-the-pants, but exploring new issues is required to capitalize on statistics in the years to come. KOSTAT is striving to establish a national statistical indicator system for making statistics serve as the dashboard of state policies.
Second, there should be a paradigm shift toward the development of statistics based on administrative data, as western advanced nations generally do. KOSTAT plans to develop five kinds of statistics, using administrative data while replacing some survey categories in eight other kinds of statistics. We’re seeking to compile data on cultivated land areas and rice cultivated land areas via satellite data.
Third, the management and provision of data under a decentralized statistical system in which each government agency produces its own stats should change into a centralized system, which Japan and the United Kingdom do. KOSTAT is building a Generic Statistical Information System (GSIS) designed to standardize the whole process of statistics production, and an integrated microdata management system for statistics dissemination.
Q: Are there any meetings of annual statistics commissioners from countries around the world? Would you elaborate on Korea’s pending issues?
A: There are two annual statistics commissioners’ gatherings °™ the United Nations Statistics Committee (UNSC) Meeting held between late February and early March each year and the OECD Committee on Statistics (CSTAT) Meeting held in Europe every June.
Delegates at the 43rd session of the United Nations Statistics Commission discussed such major agendas as population census, system of national accounts, and ICT statistics. A Korean delegation presented important in-depth insights into enormous development practices in green growth and ICT statistics that have attracted global attention.
The OECD CSTAT is a committee specializing in promoting international cooperation in the advanced statistics sector that develops and recommends international statistics standards and methods. In particular, Korea has become the first Asian country to be elected to one of the co-Chair posts of the Bureau of the OECD CSTAT for a one-year term this year. Korea’s election is expected to represent Korea and Asia’s positions on setting future major agendas.

Statistics Korea (KOSTAT) Commissioner Woo Ki-jong expounds on his administration's mission and tasks. Photo by NewsWorld

KOSTAT Commissioner Woo heads a Korean delegation at the 43rd session of the United Nations Statistics Commission held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

KOSTAT Commissioner Woo poses with NewsWorld Publisher-President Elizabeth M. Oh following an interview.