Regional gross domestic product: General information

General information GDP Compilation The internationally preferred approach for regional GDP compilation is to directly measure the activity of local units (represented by geographic units in New Zealand), and build up regional accounts from this information. The geographic unit compilation approach is preferred as it directly measures value added. This approach is also useful analytically, since it clearly links the activities of businesses within a region to the growth of that region. We’ve used this approach for most industries in New Zealand’s regional GDP estimates. The method of building up regional estimates from geographic unit data is known as the ‘bottom-up’ approach. The alternative, where regional indicators are used to allocate national level GDP estimates to regions, is the ‘top-down’ approach. A top-down approach is used if the bottom-up approach cannot be implemented for an industry. This is usually due to a lack of unit-level data for that industry. Because there are many exceptions to applying a bottom-up approach across-the-board, we’ve determined regional GDP methodology on an industry-by-industry basis. The top-down approach was used for industries such as: agriculture, part of property services, and ownership of owner-occupied dwellings. Scope of regional gross domestic product The regional GDP estimates are in current prices and are consistent with published production-based GDP. They are essentially the regional allocation of national GDP. An official constant-price regional GDP estimate is not available and would require us to develop a new methodology. The estimates do not provide information on inter-region flows. Regional gross domestic product concepts Regional GDP is conceptually the same as national GDP, with the GDP of each region summing to the national GDP total. In producing regional GDP, we use many concepts to decide how GDP is allocated to the specific regions. The residency concept clarifies whether GDP should be allocated to the producer’s location or to where the economic activity actually takes place. See Regional GDP concepts, sources, and methods for information on how we treat residency, statistical units, and the valuation basis of regional GDP. Backdated series 2000 to 2006 We derived the 2000–06 backdated regional GDP estimates at the industry level using a selection of methods, with the most appropriate method chosen depending on the period and data available. For 2000–03, existing regional GDP feasibility numbers were released in 2007, based on the historic ANZSIC96 classification. We were able to ‘reuse’ the feasibility workings for a number of activities – mainly for those where the change to ANZSIC06 had little or no effect. For 2005 and 2006, we analysed AES ANZSIC06 data as a basis for regional allocations and used it for a number of activities. For some activities, we used LEED gross earnings to derive regional ratios from 2000–06. Note that for some activities, LEED is a very good proxy for GDP, but for other activities it is not a suitable proxy. For activities where we reused the feasibility estimates in 2000–03 and used the AES data for 2005–06, there was a data gap for 2004. AES unit datasets on an ANZSIC06 basis were not available for 2004. In these instances, 2004 is generally estimated using regional ratios from the surrounding years. The 2004 allocation may be adjusted for large units that are important in particular regions. Where LEED data is used there is no data gap. Industry breakdowns Where possible we provide a finer-level industry breakdown for selected industries: • Forestry, fishing, mining, electricity, gas, water, and waste services: forestry, fishing, and mining electricity, gas, water, and waste services • Manufacturing: primary manufacturing other manufacturing • Primary manufacturing in regional GDP consists of these industries: food, beverage, and tobacco product manufacturing wood and paper products manufacturing petroleum, chemical, polymer, and rubber product manufacturing non-metallic mineral product manufacturing • Other manufacturing consists of these industries: textile, leather, clothing, and footwear manufacturing printing metal product manufacturing transport equipment, machinery, and equipment manufacturing furniture and other manufacturing • Professional, scientific, and technical services • Administrative and support services. Regional population estimates We use population estimates to calculate GDP per capita. These are the latest ‘estimated resident population’ of each region, sourced from the Census of Population and Dwellings. The regional population estimates used in this release are derived, and differ, from subnational population estimates, which are published annually with a reference date of 30 June. We used mean population estimates to better reflect the average population over each March year. In this release, regional population estimates are the mean (average) for the years ended June, while regional GDP is for the years ended March. en-NZ