Assessing socio-economic position through occupation: An update of the New Zealand Socioeconomic Index (NZSEI) 
(Sociology)
16 May 2012
11am
Venue: Room 901, Level 9, Human Sciences Building
Host: Dr Barry Milne, COMPASS: Centre of Methods and Policy Application in the Social Sciences
The assessment of socio-economic position (SEP) has a wide range of uses in health and social science research and in resource allocation. I will describe the development of the New Zealand Socioeconomic Index, updated for the 2006 Census (NZSEI06). Using the ‘returns to human capital’ framework, whereby occupation is viewed as the means by which human capital (i.e., education) is converted into material rewards (i.e., income), the NZSEI06 assigns SEP scores to individuals based on their occupation. I will briefly describe the construction of the NZSEI06, describe some preliminary validation work, and discuss its advantages and limitations especially in comparison to other NZ measures of SEP. I conclude that the NZSEI06 provides a robust, standardised and internationally comparable occupational scale of SEP, and that it is a useful addition to the suite of socio-economic indicators available in NZ.
All Welcome!
[There will be cake]
