Quality Statement

Label
Sources of family, extended family, and household income – 2023 Census: Information by concept en-NZ
Definition

Sources of income is all the various sources from which members aged 15 years and over of a family, extended family, or household received income in the 12 months ending 7 March 2023.

In the census, it is generally only realistic to collect information on money income. This is income that a person can normally recall or can readily retrieve from their financial records. Money income is money flow from the deployment of one's labour, entrepreneurial skills, and assets; and from transfers received. So, the concept of money income relies on identifying its sources.

Excluded are income in kind, unrealised income, and contingent income (contingent income depends on the unknown outcome of a course of action, for example, to sue). Excluded also is money received by borrowing, making withdrawals from savings, and receiving repayments of loan principal; and tax credits and reimbursements of expenses.

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Overall quality rating

Family income: Moderate quality
Extended family income: Moderate quality
Household income: Moderate quality
Data quality processes section below has more detail on the rating.

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Priority level

Priority level 2
A priority level is assigned to all census concepts: priority 1, 2, or 3 (with 1 being highest and 3 being the lowest priority).
Sources of family, extended family and household income is a priority 2 concept. Priority 2 concepts cover key subject populations that are important for policy development, evaluation, or monitoring. These concepts are given second priority in terms of quality, time, and resources across all phases of a census.
The census priority level for sources of family, extended family and household income remains the same as 2018.
The 2023 Census: Final content report has more information on priority ratings for census concepts.

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Subject population

Sources of family income: Families in occupied private dwellings
Sources of extended family income: Extended families in occupied private dwellings
Sources of household income: Households in occupied private dwellings
‘Subject population’ means the people, families, households, or dwellings that the variable applies to.

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How this data is classified

Sources of family, extended family and household income data is classified into the following categories:

Census Sources of Personal Income Classification V3.0.0 - Level 1 of 1

Code Category
00 No source of income during that time
01 Wages, salary, commissions, bonuses etc paid by my employer
02 Self-employment or business I own and work in
03 Interest, dividends, rent, other investments
04 Regular payments from ACC or a private work accident insurer
05 New Zealand Superannuation or Veteran’s Pension
06 Other superannuation, pensions, or annuities (other than NZ Superannuation, Veteran’s Pension or war pensions)
07 Jobseeker Support
08 Sole Parent Support
09 Supported Living Payment
10 Student Allowance
11 Other government benefits, government income support payments, war pensions or paid parental leave
12 Other sources of income, including support payments from people who do not live in my household
99 Not stated

Sources of income uses a 1-level flat classification as presented in the table above.

The 2023 Census classification for sources of income is consistent with that used in 2018 Census.

Multiple responses could be provided. Families, extended families and households reporting more than one source of income are counted in each category that they have stated. Therefore, the total number of responses in a table is greater than the count of families, extended families or households in occupied private dwellings.

Standards and classifications has more information on what classifications are, how they are reviewed, where they are stored, and how to provide feedback on them.

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Question format

Family, extended family, and household variables are derived from information about people who usually live in the household: usual residence (question 5 on the individual paper form), living arrangements (question 17 on the individual paper form) and relationship to reference person (questions 18 and 21 on the dwelling paper form).

Sources of income for families, extended families and households are then derived from sources of personal income (question 36 on the paper form) on the individual form.

For more information on the question format for:

Stats NZ Store House has samples for both the individual and dwelling paper forms.

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Examples of how this data is used

Data-use outside Stats NZ:

  • combined with total family, extended family and household income, to understand the socio-economic status and well-being of households.
  • to distinguish market and non-market sources of income in income distribution analysis.
  • by central government agencies, local authorities, private organisations, and researchers in the formulation of social policy, for planning and monitoring programmes, and for research purposes.
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Data sources

Sources of family, extended family and household income are derived from the sources of personal income for the individuals of that unit (aged 15 years and over). For a breakdown of the sources of personal income, see the Sources of personal income - 2023 Census: Information by concept.

For sources of personal income, alternative data sources for missing census responses and responses that could not be classified or did not provide the type of information asked for were used. Where possible, admin data or statistical imputation was used.

The tables below shows the combinations of the various data sources used to source family, extended family and household incomes.

Data sources for sources of family, extended family, and household income variables, 2023 Census
Source Total family income - percent Total household income - percent Total extended family income - percent
2023 Census response 87.9 83.2 71.9
2023 Census response and admin data 5.5 5.3 15.1
2023 Census response, admin data, and imputation 0.2 0.5 2.5
2023 Census response and imputation 1.9 2.1 5.2
Admin data 4.0 4.9 4.6
Admin data and imputation 0.3 0.2 0.8
Imputation 0.2 0.2 0.1
No information <0.1 3.5 0.0
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0
Note: Due to rounding, individual figures may not always sum to the stated total(s).

The following admin data sources were used, in priority order of use:
  • Inland Revenue
  • Ministry of Social Development
  • Working for Families.

Editing, data sources, and imputation in the 2023 Census describes how data quality is improved by editing and how missing and residual responses are filled with alternative data sources (admin data and historical census responses) or statistical imputation. This webpage also contains a spreadsheet that provides additional detail on the admin data sources.

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Missing and residual responses

Missing and residual responses represent data gaps where respondents either did not provide answers (missing responses) or provided answers that did not fit predefined categories (residual responses).

Where possible, alternative data sources have been used to fill missing and residual responses in the 2023 and 2018 Censuses.

Percentage of ‘not stated’ for 2023:

  • Family income sources: <0.1 percent
  • Extended family income sources: 0.0 percent
  • Household income sources: 3.5 percent

Percentage of ‘not stated’ for 2018(1):

  • Family income sources: 0.2 percent
  • Extended family income sources: <0.1 percent
  • Household income sources: 3.7 percent

Percentage of ‘not stated’ for 2013:

  • Family income sources: 1.3 percent
  • Extended family income sources: 1.4 percent
  • Household income sources: 4.6 percent

(1) These proportions differ from those published in the Families and households: family, extended family, and household total income and sources of income - 2018 Census: Information by variable. The 2018 information by variable included an additional amount of non-response to account for households that information could not be derived for. This differed from the proportion counted as 'not stated' in published tables. The proportions included here reflect the data in published tables.

'Families and Households in the 2023 Census: Data sources, methodology and data quality' will have more information on missingness in household and family data. A link to the paper will be available from late 2024.

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Data quality processes

Overall quality rating:

  • Sources of family income: Moderate
  • Sources of extended family income: Moderate
  • Sources of household income: Moderate

Data has been evaluated to assess whether it meets quality standards and is suitable for use.

Three quality metrics contributed to the overall quality rating:

  • data sources and coverage
  • consistency and coherence
  • accuracy of response.

The lowest rated metric determines the overall quality rating.

Data quality assurance in the 2023 Census provides more information on the quality rating scale.

Data sources and coverage:

  • Sources of family income: Moderate quality
  • Sources of extended family income: Moderate quality
  • Sources of household income: Moderate quality

All sources of income for families, extended families, and households are rated moderate for data sources and coverage.

The quality of all the data sources that contribute to the output for the variable were assessed. To calculate the data sources and coverage quality score for a variable, each data source is rated and multiplied by the proportion it contributes to the total output.

The rating for a valid census response is defined as 1.00. Ratings for other sources are the best estimates available of their quality relative to a census response. Each source that contributes to the output for that variable is then multiplied by the proportion it contributes to the total output. The total score then determines the metric rating according to the following range:

  • 98–100 = very high
  • 95–<98 = high
  • 90–<95 = moderate
  • 75–<90 = poor
  • <75 = very poor.

Data sources and coverage ratings were calculated by adding together all the data source ratings for the input variable (sources of personal income) for the individuals within the family, extended family, or household unit, and then dividing by the number of people in the unit. Individual income data source ratings are covered in more detail in Sources of personal income – 2023 Census: Information by concept.

Absentee records with ‘not stated’ income values were ignored in these calculations. If the overall family, extended family, or household income was coded to ‘not stated’, then that unit was given a data sources and coverage score of zero.

The average data sources and coverage scores for each unit were then added together and divided by the total number of records in the subject population.

There are missing counts where families and extended families belong to missed households. To account for this, an adjustment was included in the final metric one score for the 4.1% of households where information could not be derived.

Data sources and coverage quality rating table for sources of family, extended family, and household income variables, 2023 Census
Variable Weighted Metric 1 score Adjustment for households with unidentifiable composition Final Metric 1 score
Sources of household income 0.94 0.00 0.94
Sources of family income 0.97 0.04 0.94
Sources of extended family income 0.95 0.04 0.91
Note: Due to rounding, individual figures may not always sum to the stated total(s).

Consistency and coherence:

  • Sources of family income: High quality
  • Sources of extended family income: High quality
  • Sources of household income: High quality

Sources of family, extended family, and household income is consistent with expectations across nearly all consistency checks, with some minor variation from expectations or benchmarks which makes sense due to real-world change, incorporation of other sources of data, or a change in how the variable has been collected.

This includes an increase in the proportion of households, families, and extended families that receive sole parent support, supported living payments, or other government benefits. This is attributed to improvements in the use and quality of admin data.

Accuracy of responses:

  • Sources of family income: High quality
  • Sources of extended family income: Moderate quality
  • Sources of household income: High quality

Accuracy of responses were assessed through the quality of sources of personal income, the methods for completing the relationships in the household matrices and also analysis of people missing from households.

Accuracy of responses for sources of personal income has been assessed as high quality. For further information see Sources of personal income – 2023 Census: Information by concept.

Sources of family and household income has only minor data quality issues. The accuracy of coding for the household matrix is high. Any issues with the data appear in a low number of cases.

There were significant changes introduced in the 2023 Census that impacted the counting of households and quality of household matrices. These were:

  • improvements in the methodology for using admin relationships to construct families and households when census relationships were missing.
  • more extensive checks for errors, and higher quality manual corrections for households that had errors due to a dedicated and larger family coding manual intervention team.
  • higher quality repatriation of people to the dwelling they usually live in.

These changes improved quality and accuracy of the data.

Extended families tend to be larger and more complex therefore there is a higher likelihood that sometimes not all usual members are captured. Additionally, Māori and Pacific Peoples are more likely to be in extended families. They had lower response rates and are disproportionately represented by people missing from households and families, which may have also affected the overall count of extended families.

‘Families and Households in the 2023 Census: Data sources, methodology and data quality’ will have more information on the data quality of household and family data. A link to the paper will be available from late 2024.

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Recommendations for use and further information

It is recommended that the sources of family, extended family, and household income data can be used in a comparable manner to the 2018 and 2013 Censuses.

When using this data, users should be aware that:

  • Improvements to the admin data sources for income have made improvements to total income data. This includes being able to retrieve income data for absentees who would have been classified as ‘not stated’ in previous censuses.
  • There have been changes to collection and enumeration which led to increases across most categories with the highest percentage change in ‘Other government benefits, payments or pensions’.
  • Care must be taken when cross-tabulating total family, extended family and household income with sources of family, extended family and household income. The time reference periods are different for the two variables. Total family, extended family and household income relates to 12 months ending on 31 March 2023, in line with the tax year, while sources of income collects information for the 12 months ending 7 March 2023 (census night).
  • Improvements in the coverage of sources of income data from admin have made some categories change unexpectedly. The proportion of households, families, and extended families that receive sole parent support, supported living payments, or other government benefits have increased where the historical census trends suggest these should stay consistent or slightly decrease. Data users should interpret increases in these categories with caution, especially for groups that have a high proportion of admin enumeration such as households with Māori or Pacific People members.
  • Not all people counted in the census usually resident population are part of the derivation of households and families, eg people who were admin enumerated at a meshblock rather than a dwelling level and people living in non-private dwellings. In addition, there are dwellings that were not occupied at the time of the census or not counted in the census. This means there will be families, extended families and households that are not counted in census outputs.
  • Care should be taken when looking at the time series as there were changes to the collection strategy, processing system, and household and family coding methodology between the 2013 and 2018 Censuses, and further improvements made to these for the 2023 Census. These improvements mean household and family data is of a higher quality in the 2023 Census compared to previous censuses.
  • The quality of relationships within households in the 2023 Census is higher than in previous censuses, including those for more complex households and households containing at least one member of Māori or Pacific Peoples ethnicity.

'Families and Households in the 2023 Census: Data sources, methodology and data quality' will have more information on changes to the methodology and data quality of household and family data. A link to the paper will be available from late 2024.

Comparisons to other data sources
Although there are surveys and sources other than the census that collect sources of income data, users are advised to familiarise themselves with the strengths and limitations of the sources before use:

  • Census aims to account for sources of personal income for all usual residents aged 15 years and over, while other sources such as the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) and the Household Economic Survey (HES) measuring this variable are based upon a sample of the population.
  • Census includes more sources of income than the HLFS, which only collects wages and salaries, self-employment, and government transfers income.
  • Both the HLFS and Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) provide more regular information on income sources than the census, collecting data on an annual basis.
  • Some differences between the household income and the Administrative Population Census (APC) may be due to a mismatch between the census respondent’s view of what their income and income sources are and that derived from admin data. For example, an individual may not recall a short period of ACC payment they received earlier in the time period covered by the census question.
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Information by variables from previous censuses

To assess how this concept aligns with the variables from the previous census, use the link below:

Contact our Information centre for further information about using this concept.

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Information

History

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Revision Date Responsibility Rationale
44 14/01/2025 3:37:32 PM
43 1/11/2024 10:24:40 AM
42 31/10/2024 10:48:40 AM
41 31/10/2024 10:43:41 AM