Help calculate Jersey Price Index

Tuesday 30 December 2014

Families are being asked to help calculate the cost of living in Jersey.

The States are calling for families to take part in the Household Spending and Income Survey (HSIS) which helps the government work out the Retail Price Index, and judge inflation levels on the island.

Over 800 households have participated in this survey since it began in April. Every month, a sample of households is chosen at random and asked to take part. After receiving a letter from the Statistics Unit, households are visited by an interviewer to talk through the survey. The interviewer will then return at a convenient time to ask the householders questions about bills and large or regular purchases. Participants are also encouraged to keep a spending diary for the two-week period.

As well as determining the Retail Price Index, the survey also helps the government assess income levels and inequality on the island.

The RPI tracks changes in the cost of products and services and involves pricing the range of goods and services on which households spend their money. To calculate the RPI, statisticians give more weight to some goods or services which take up a larger proportion of household income.

Duncan Gibaut, Chief Statistician, said: “I’d like to encourage households who are contacted in the coming months to help us by taking part in this important survey. Spending patterns change throughout the year, so the next few months will be important in gathering information on the spending habits of Islanders, particularly during the Christmas period.”

The survey looks at spending patterns over a year, and takes place on the island every five years. When the last survey was carried out in 2009/10 average household spending in Jersey was £724 a week, while income was £1,027. On average households spent £68 a week on food and a fifth of their income on housing. The survey also revealed that households with the highest incomes spent four times more on restaurants and hotels than those with the lowest incomes.

Information given by households is treated as confidential and will be used to produce non-identifiable grouped statistics. Householders can also be entered into a quarterly draw to win prizes for their efforts.