Government kicks off Household Expenditure Survey

It will be conducted until September 2013.

According to a government release, the Singapore Department of Statistics (DOS) is conducting the tenth Household Expenditure Survey (HES) from October 2012 to September 2013.

The survey covers 11,000 households, which are divided into 26 groups with each group being surveyed for a period of two weeks. We are now moving into the third month of the year-long survey.

The forthcoming 5th and 6th groups of households will be surveyed for a period of two weeks each, starting from 26 November 2012 and 10 December 2012 respectively.

The survey groups will cover areas in Bedok, Bukit Batok, Bukit Merah, Bukit Panjang, Henderson, Serangoon, Teck Whye, Toa Payoh and Woodlands.

Survey officers carrying identification cards and letters of authorisation issued by DOS will visit the selected households. Selected households are kindly requested to provide their full cooperation.

Households who wish to verify the identity of the survey officers may call the HES hotline at 1800-888-1213 from 8.30 am to 10.00 pm, Monday to Sunday, including public holidays.

Conducted once every five years, the HES collects up-to-date information on households’ expenditure for updating the weighting pattern and the basket of goods and services used in the compilation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Data from the survey also serve as inputs for social and economic policy planning and formulation as well as studies on income and expenditure patterns.

The HES is conducted under the Statistics Act (Chapter 317) which ensures that all information supplied by households will be kept in confidence in accordance with the Statistics Act.