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VOORBURG GROUP ON SERVICES STATISTICS Purpose The purpose of the Group is to address issues related to the production of services statistics, including service product outputs and inputs, the estimation of the real product of service activities, price indices of service products and industries, and their implications for product and industry classification (Central Product Classification (CPC) and International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC)). In 2005, the VG received a renewed mandate from the UNSC concerning its objective, focus, and scope. The objective of the VG is to establish an internationally comparable methodology for measuring the constant dollar outputs of the service industries. The focus of the VG is to develop concepts, methods, and best practices in the area of services. The scope of the VG is centered on producer price indices (PPIs) for services, turnover by products, and classifications. The Voorburg Group has contributed over the years to building up and sharing a considerable and growing body of knowledge on Service Sector Statistics. It has prompted international cooperation in the development of standards and assisted in resolving statistical and measurement challenges in the Service Sector. Participants at the five last meetings National institutes Australia: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006,2007) International organizations United Nations Statistics Division (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005) Meetings The Group meets annually for a week. Previous meetings were held as follows: 1987 Voorburg, the Netherlands Topics considered In the early years, the Group contributed to the development of the services areas of the two United Nations Classifications, International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC), Rev 3 and the Central Product Classification (CPC). Subsequently, the topics considered were expanded to address services statistics more generally, including topics such as prices of service products; international trade in services; and employment, skills and occupations in the service sector. Since 2005, in accordance with its Vision document and its renewed mandate, the Group has re-focused its work on the development of new concepts, methods and best practices in three areas: 1) classification issues, 2) output measures and 3) price indices. Products Model Surveys In the past, model surveys have been developed for computer services (see Computer Service: A Model Survey of Computer Services (Statistical Papers, Series M, No. 81)), telecommunications, audio-visual services, marketing research and advertising services, and insurance services. More recently, model surveys have been developed for employment services (1997), education services (1998), demand for services (1999) and ICT usage by enterprises and households (2001-2002) and the model surveys have been revisited (2005). The models are available in the corresponding papers on the web site of the Voorburg Group (http://www.voorburggroup.org). Producer price indices for services The decision was taken at the meeting held in Madrid 2000 to develop a model for presenting international practices in different services activities concerning the measurement of PPI. Principal papers have been completed for the areas of accounting services (2001), telecommunication services (2001), legal services (2001), real estate (2001), advertising services (2002, 2004), road freight transport (2002), engineering services (2002), prepackaged software (2003), air passenger and freight transportation (2004), Legal activity, auditing and tax consulting services (2004), Courier Services (2005), Labour recruitment (2005), Road Freight Services (2006), Business and Management Consultancy (2006), and Architectural Services (2006), Freight Transport by Road (2007), Management Consultancy (2007), Computer Services (2007), and Software Consultancy Services (2007). The papers are available on the web site of the Voorburg Group (http://www.voorburggroup.org). Inventories An inventory of national collection of service producer prices has been drawn up since 1997 and is updated yearly. An inventory of national current practice relating to the surveying of detailed turnover by product was established in 2003 (both are also available on the Voorburg Group web site). A complete list and all the papers presented to and discussed at Voorburg Group meetings since its inception are available on the Voorburg Group web site. Ongoing Methodological Work Plan In order to produce more concrete deliverables, the Voorburg Group has recently adopted a more structured approach in terms of its work plan and proceedings. In acknowledging the parallel and equally important development of turnover (output measures), prices and classifications, the Group made an explicit effort to better balance its agenda among these three areas. This new orientation was initially reflected in the 2006 meeting agenda and continued for the 2007 meeting, contributing to the great success of both these meetings. 2006 Meeting At this 2006 meeting, the Voorburg Group focused on the development of concepts, methods, and best practices in the area of services. The scope of the meeting sessions centered on turnover (output measures), classification, and prices, and sessions were structured around a review of output and price statistics for service industries with the objective of creating comparable data across programs for the improvement of input data for national accounts. The Voorburg Group created a task force with a mandate to develop, in advance of the meeting, a structured content development framework (CDF) for use by member countries to address the development of services prices and turnover/output data, with links to classifications and national accounts. The CDF, which was completed and available for use by December 2005, specified a structured approach for developing mini-presentations (separately done on prices and turnover/output) and sector papers (covering prices, outputs, and classification) for use in future Voorburg Group meetings. In 2006, the Group focused its work mainly in three major areas: 2. Developing a thesaurus for prices methodology. 3. Developing an industry scorecard tool to assess the various countries’ progress toward developing output and price data for various service industries and products. Content Development Framework (CDF) The purpose of the CDF is to provide a much more structured approach to developing mini-presentations and sector papers covering different service industries and for organizing the format and conduct of the Voorburg Group meetings. The CDF essentially calls for industry specific papers to be prepared by participating countries according to a predefined template, including specific methodological guidelines, and requires that the papers cover pre-established topics related to the Group’s three main domains of interest (turnover, prices and classification), as well as the national accounting perspective. This approach ensures that the content of the papers are more comparable and standardized, thus facilitating the exchange of knowledge and expertise as well as discussion of issues. The papers are presented, critiqued and discussed in mini-presentations during the Group’s meeting (and available on the Group’s website). This substantive content material as well as the output from the discussions, in turn, serve as key inputs to produce, discuss and adopt Sector papers (presented in the following year) that present a set of key methodological guidelines for the development and production of Service industry statistics. As concrete deliverables from the Voorburg Group meetings, these sector papers are intended to become reference material for statisticians that oversee the development and compilation of Service Sector statistics in the various countries and international organizations. 2007 meeting In 2007, building on the success of using the CDF, the Group focused on the following: 1. Finalizing and formally adopting the thesaurus for prices methodology, including common terminologies for prices, so that all participating countries and international organizations can speak the same language in terms of pricing methodologies. The final version adopted at the 2007 meeting included concrete examples accompanying each of the seven pricing methods and improved definitions of each of the seven pricing methods. 2. Finalizing and formally adopting Sector Papers on two service industries covered by mini-presentations at the 2006 meeting: Freight Transport by Road (ISIC 4923) and Management Consultancy (ISIC 7020). 3. Presenting and discussing a General Methodology Paper including theoretical and practical issues and key points of a cross-cutting nature for the Service Sector as a whole. These key points of a general nature are provided to enable the Group to avoid rehashing the same points when discussing specific industries. 4. Presenting and discussing three presentations by three national accountants from three different countries (South Korea, Australia, and the United States) covering key issues to be addressed by the Voorburg Group to better ascertain and document the specific Service Sector source data used by the national accounts to improve measures of real GDP. Key points were elicited as input to the development of a final report on national accounts to be prepared and presented at the 2008 meeting. Also at the 2007 meeting, papers on IT Services were presented, discussed, and key points were raised as input to the Sector Paper on IT Services that will be prepared for and delivered at the 2008 Voorburg Group meeting. In addition, the Voorburg group continued to monitor, via a survey that produces the industry scorecards, the degree to which the countries have made progress on the development of output and price statistics for various industries and products covered by the Service Sector. Results were discussed for a survey of country progress on the five industries comprising IT service industries: a. Computer Programming Activities (ISIC 6201) b. Information Technology Consultancy and Computer Facilities Management Activities (ISIC 6202) c. Other Information Technology Service Activities (ISIC 6209) d. Data Processing, Hosting and Related Services (ISIC 6311) e. Web Portals (ISIC 6312) Priority Objectives (All Objectives Were Met at the 2007 Meeting) The 2007 meeting was a success as all the key objectives were met. The new strategic direction and the more structured approach for the statistical related work was successful and led to :
Future work Agenda (For 2008 and onwards)
Planned Activities The next annual meeting of the Voorburg group will be held from September 22 to 26, 2008 in Aguascalientes, Mexico. An agenda is being developed, based on suggested ISIC industries or industry groups to be covered. Further details will be posted to this site as they are developed. New Activities Enhancing and simplifying the Statistics Canada Voorburg Website so that the papers presented at the annual meetings could be classified and accessed under more than one heading. The papers from the previous meetings of the Group are available at: Point of contact Louis Marc Ducharme
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