Socio-economic & IT Changes in Korea, and KOSTAT’s Responses

1. IAOS 2014 Conference on Official Statistics 8 ~ 10 October 2014, Da Nang, Vietnam Socio-economic & IT Changes in Korea, and KOSTAT’s Responses Bongho Choi(bonghochoi@korea.kr) Senior Government Officer at the Statistics Korea Secretary for Association of National Census & Statistics Directors of America, Asia & the Pacific Vice President of the Korean Data Analysis Society(www.kdas.or.kr) Professional Lecturer on Prevention against Sexual Violence

2. 1 Socio-economic Changes occurred in Korea

3. Socio-economic Development in Korea

4. Changein Structure of GDP in Korea

5. Change in Employment by Industries from Household Survey in Korea (in thousand , %)

6. 2 KOSTAT’s Responses in the Past

7. Early Stage of Statistical Organization in Korea

8. Change of NSO’s Organization 2005.8.1~ KOSTAT (Vice Minister level) under Ministry of Strategy & Finance 2006 : Creation of Statistical Development Institute 2007 : Creation of Survey Management Bureau 2008 : 700 persons came from Ministry of Agriculture 2009 : Merge 11 Provincial offices into 5 Regional offices 2005~ 1990~ 1990.12.27~2005.7.30 KOSTAT (Assistant Minister level) under Ministry of Finance & Economy 1991 : Creation of Statistical Training Institute 1998 : 500 persons came from Ministry of Agriculture & Fishery 1961~ 1961.7.22~1990.12.26National Bureau of Statistics under Economic Planning Board 1975 : 8 Provincial offices were newly created. 1955~ 1955.2.17~1961.7.21Statistical Bureau under Ministry of Home Affairs 1945~ 1948.8.15~1955.2.16 Statistical Bureau under Public Information Office

9. Increasing Trend of Personnel at KOSTAT ☞ Including those interviewers (about 800) working as a contract-basis. - On 1 Aug. 2005, the post of Deputy Commissioner was newly created.

10. Past Since 2007 Input Change of Evaluation for Staff’s Performance at KOSTAT Management by Objectives and Seniority Management system Balanced Score Card (BSC) system Outcome Output Processes Logic : • BSC • Vision, Mission, Core Values, Strategic Goals • 4 Perspectives (Customer, Financial, Internal processes, Employee • Learning & Growth) • Everystaff-members are evaluated according to the above 4 perspectives.

11. Use of IT Technologies in Producing Statistics

12. Statistics Developed over time at KOSTAT

13. Statistics Developed over time at KOSTAT

14. Summary of Changes during 1970s Korea’s economy kept growing and expanding. Local statistical offices were firstly established in 8 places under the National Bureau of Statistics. Social Statistics Survey was firstly conducted. Monthly surveys on mining & manufacturing, construction orders received, machinery orders received were newly conducted. Local agricultural statistical offices were firstly established in 80 places under the Ministry of Agriculture. Survey on Statistical Manpower and Budget was newly conducted. Foreign Trade Statistics by UN’s SITC(Standard International Trade Classification) was started.

15. Summary of Changes during 1980s Besides Government’s efforts, the global economic boo, helped Korea to achieve really great success in 1980s. Social development plan was added to existing economic development plan. Annual surveys on wholesale and retail trade as well as on service industry was newly conducted. Composite indices were newly compiled. GRDP was newly compiled. Vital registration data were actively utilized to produce statistics on infant mortality, life-table, population projection.

16. Summary of Changes during 1990s For the first half of 1990s, Korean economy continued a stable and strong growth. However, thing changed quickly in 1997 with the Asian Financial Crisis. Head of NBOS was upgraded to the level of Assistant Minister, which made NBOS became an independent organization. Statistics Day was firstly designated. First introduction of CAPI for monthly survey on labor force. Personnel in agricultural statistics were transferred to NSO. IT technologies started to be used.

17. Summary of Changes during 2000s Economic growth stabilized and policies needed to focus on more specific subjects (work & life balance, well-beings, economic equality). Large-scale international statistical meetings were held(53rd ISI Session in 2001, 3rd OECD World Forum in 2009). Statistical Reform Plan was made and implemented (Statistics Law was amended, system on statistical quality management and statistics-based policy management was introduced, Statistical Development Institute was set up) Statistical personnel(700) from Ministry of Agriculture were transferred to NSO. Use of IT technologies in the production of statistics(PDA, CASI, electronic diaries) for surveys on consumer prices, labor force and household income & expenditure )was strengthened.

18. Agenda dealt with Reform Plan in 2004/05 • Conduct of a survey on the demand of statistics. • Preparation of 5-Year Statistical Development Plan. • To solve the issue on how to use the administrative data for the production of new statistics and the improvement of existing statistics. • To find solutions on how to enhance the capacity of regional statistical offices and to improve the relationship between regional statistical offices and the local governments. • Amendment of the Statistics Law. • Creation of a new National Statistical Committee. • Strengthening of statistical capacity of other ministries and local governments as well as preparation of a redeployment plan of national statistical personnel.

19. Evaluation Stage Planning stage Execution Stage Introduction of “Statistics-based Policy Management” • Presidential Decree revised in 2007 • Crucial role in evaluating policies Government agencies shall submit relevant statistics or plans to develop them when they revise acts. Statistics-based Policy Management

20. 3 KOSTAT’s Responses in the Future

21. TenIssues Arose Recently at Statistics Korea 1. On Data Dissemination The Statistics Act stipulates that strict political neutrality must be observed to protect the credibility of data, with all findings announced without delay. However, the statistics on CPI, Industrial Production and Employment have been provided one day earlier than the official release time to the Blue House and the Ministry of Finance & Strategy. The other statistics on annual and ad-hoc surveys have been provided a week earlier. Statistics Korea is now considering to stop these practices through amending the Statistics Law. 2. Increase of use of micro-data Requests for micro-data with names and addresses of individuals are increasing, especially from the private sector. 3. On Governance for Statistical Organizations - Fixed-term for the commissioner's job is not yet set up in Korea. - Chairmanship of the National Statistical Committee (to the P.M.) - Change of the oversight ministry (to the P.M.)

22. 4. Weak trust in some statistics compiled by Statistics Korea • Especially, statistics on income distribution (Gini-coefficient), • unemployment rate, consumer price indices. • 5. Low Perception on Statistics • General public does not understand difficulties in the process of data production. It is not easy to get full cooperation when we conduct statistical surveys. General public regards statistics are free goods. • 6. Compilation of SNA • The authority to compile the System of National Accounts has been given to the Bank of Korea not Statistics Korea. Statistics Korea is currently in charge of the Gross Regional Domestic Production. • 7. Statistical Activities of Local Governments and RSOs • Statistical activities of local governments are weak. Each provincial governments has a very few statistical personnel. Statistical activities of Regional Statistical Offices under Statistics Korea are also found to be weak. Their main duties are to be the field-work especially in data capturing.

23. 8. Existence of Different organizational culture at KOSTAT • Currently, three labor unions exist. One is for staff-members working at the headquarters, another one is for staff-members working at the regional offices, and the other one is for interviewers with indefinite contract-basis. Transfers of personnel to Statistics Korea from the Ministry of Agriculture twice (in 1998 and in 2008) have also affected the work environment. • 9. Regional Statistical Offices • - Regional Statistical Offices request the abolition of the telephone- • monitoring system for quality checks. • - Regional Statistical Offices is now operated as the independent • agency-type. Director-Generals of each regional offices are appointed • on a contract basis of two to three years. • 10. Performance appraisal system for staff-members • Two performance evaluation system exist. • One is the traditional system which is done simply and manually by supervisors. The other one is the Balanced-score Card(BSC) system which is done by the performance indicators’ (numerically).

24. KOSTAT’s Core Strategy Advance National Statistics Ensure convenient access Improve user’s trust Enhance efficiency Develop relevant statistics

25. To Develop Relevant Statistics for Supporting Policies Produce more policy-based statistics • Produce income inequality indicators at diverse dimensions • Compile supplementary indicators of unemployment rate • Produce statistics of newly emerging global agenda (quality of life, green growth, climate change…)

26. To Develop Relevant Statistics for Supporting Policies Switch to centralized statistical system in data management • To Enhance Policy responsiveness of Statistics ◦ Conduct Surveys for other ministries by KOSTAT - By using superior infrastructure of KOSTAT (Interviewers, IT system, etc.) ◦ Maintain decentralized system for administrative data ◦ To set up “Integrated Data Management Institute” • Improve accuracy and confidence of official statistics

27. Designation of Responsible Statistical Officers Central Governments Ministry of Labor Ministry of Health Ministry of Education Local Offices International Organizations KOSTAT Local Governments (16 Provinces) Seoul Busan … 5 Regional Statistics Offices 49 Sub – Regional Offices Public Entities ∙ Bank of Korea ∙ Korea Labor Institute ∙ KIHASA ∙ Various Associations … Cities/Counties/ Districts (230) …

28. To Enhance Efficiency More use of administrative data • Some statistics can be replaced by administrative data. ex) Population & Housing Census, business surveys • The revised Statistics Act provided the legal basis to use administrative data for producing statistics. ( 2007) • Many issues remain to be resolved - Conflicts between agencies, technical problems to protect privacy, different classifications, etc.

29. To Enhance Efficiency Active use of administrative data • Revise the tax law in order to use tax data - “Statistics Korea may use tax data to compile statistics” (in Tax law) • Strengthen the electronic security for confidentiality of tax data - separate intranet from internet - management of log files • Various tax data to be accessed - To set up Business register (name, address, telephone number, economic activity, etc.)

30. hod Respondent-friendly survey techniques Households preferring interview surveys (Rotation, In-migrating and non-respondent households) Households preferring Internet surveys Households impossible to interview in the daytime and households preferring CATI (One-person and dual income households) CAPI CADI CASI CATI

31. To Improve User’s Trust Conduct surveys on behalf of other statistical offices • Weak survey infrastructure at many statistical offices • Survey on behalf of other statistics offices utilizing KOSTAT interviewers. Ex) OECD International Assessment of Adult Competencies survey contracted out by the Education Ministry (2010)

32. To have Convenient Accessibility Strengthening one-stop statistics service • KOSIS : Korean Statistical Information Service • Store 170 million data cells • Planning to integrate all national statistics to KOSIS. 467550 (Apr. ,2008) Number of KOSIS users (per month) Users May July March, 2007 Sep. Nov. Jan. 2008 March

33. Who Are Users? DomesticAbroad - Central governments - International organizations - Local governments - Foreign countries Businesses ResearchGeneral Public - Enterprises - Universities - News media - Associations - Research institutes - Students - Labor unions - Opinion polls - Political parties - Marketers - Citizens

34. In KOSIS, any people can find the requested data by himself and On-line publication service is also available. An Example found from KOSIS – Population Pyramid

35. An Example found from KOSIS’s e-national indicators system – GDP and Growth Rate

36. KOSTAT’s Efforts to Use Big Data • KOSTAT’s Countermeasures against Big Data Use • Pilot project for big data use • Research on big data use in official statistics and pilot production of statistics • Establish a task force responsible for big data use and train human resources “Earlier dissemination of the Mining and Manufacturing Production Index by using media data” • Support rapid and accurate production of the Mining and Manufacturing Production Index Collection and analysis of Internet data Media data is automatically collected and used for objective editing (checking changes in establishments and items, finding outliers) before finalizing the Index. Provision of visualized analysis function Easier understanding of time-series data (index and volume) by providing visualized analysis function

37. KOSTAT’s Efforts for Data Visualization • Statistics → Knowledge → Policy • Better Policy for Better Life Statistics → Knowledge→Policy → Better Life Visualization and transformation of statistics into knowledge • In OECD World Forums, the transformation of statistics into knowledge, a new paradigm in knowledge-based society, continuously discussed. • Dissemination → Communication Changes from statistical production to statistical utilization • There was a growing need for the creation of value added by the public using • data in their daily lives, going beyond a mere dissemination of statistical data.

38. Mongol(’02) GER(’97) KAZ(’10) China (’93) Uzb(’11) Japan (’82) Russia (‘95) SStrengthening International Cooperation Activities (Bi-lateral) Neth.(’11) Thai(’02) +Eurostat(’10) Vietnam (’02) Iran(’08) Egypt (’12) UAE(’10) Abu Dhabi(‘12) Indonesia (’11)

39. Thank you ! To have a good question is more important than a good answer!