1 23rd Voorburg Group Meeting Aguascalientes, Mexico New Approaches for the Voorburg Group New Format and Focus for the Sector Papers, and the Introduction Of the Revised Sector Papers presented by Mark E. Wallace Chief, Service Sector Statistics Division U.S. Census Bureau September 22-26, 2008

2 New Approaches for VG 2006, VG 2007, and VG 2008: How Well are They Working? Much work is now being done throughout the year, beginning with the task force delivering the Content Development Framework (CDF) in December 2005 and then the thesaurus by March 2006, the revised thesaurus and the general methodology paper and national accounts session for 2007 and 2008, the revisited sector papers and the glossary of terms for 2008 and the good work done on the mini- presentations and country progress reports (we should plan again to do a lot of work between VG 2008 and VG 2009) CDF: New approaches to: – New organization and format for meetings (e.g., selecting 3 countries for PPI and turnover presentations, discussants’ remarks from a national income accounts perspective, facilitated group discussions of the mini-presentations and the discussants’ remarks, development of “key points” to be included in the sector paper, etc.) – Mini-presentations – Sector papers (introduced in 2007, revised format in 2008) – Revisited sector papers (first done for 2008) – Presented the two special sessions: national accountants and general methodology in 2007 (and finalized in 2008)

3 New Approaches for VG 2006, 2007, and 2008: How Well are They Working? (continued) Use of the common terminologies for PPI (thesaurus) Adjunct to the Pricing Thesaurus (e.g., average charge-out rate in IT in relation to offshore outsourcing, charge-out rates applied to Swedish computer consultancy services) Country progress reports - scorecard approach useful Strategy for covering the highest priority Voorburg Groupings (2007) – Beginning in 2008, we are targeting industries with highest and most universal payoff – Focus future country progress reports on activity levels for PPI, turnover for industry/industry groups to be specifically covered at upcoming meeting – Sector papers and revisited sector papers should focus more on recommendations, less on summaries of the mini-presentations

4 Proposed Schedule for Industry Specific Papers (Mini-Presentations (MP), Sector Papers (SP), and Revisited Sector Papers (RSP)) for 2008 through 2011 (As Decided at the 2007 VG Meeting) Industry/Industry GroupMPSPRSP Wired, Wireless, Satellite, and Telecommunications ServicesXX “ “ “ “ “ “XX 2. Wholesale Trade XX “ “ “ “ “ “ X X 3. IT ServicesXX 4. Accounting, Bookkeeping and Auditing Activities; Tax ConsultancyXX 5. Real Estate (Excluding Imputed Rents)XX 6. Advertising and Market Research and Public Opinion PollingXX 7. Architectural and Engineering Activities and Related Technical ConsultancyXX 8. Rail TransportationXX 9. Water TransportationXX 10. Air TransportationXX 11. Banking and CreditXX “ “ “ “ “ “XX 12. InsuranceXX “ “ “ “ “ “XX 13. Rental and Leasing ServicesXX 14. Retail TradeXX “ “ “ “ “ “XX 15. Employment ServicesXX 16. Investigation and Security ServicesXX 17. Cleaning and Facilities SupportXX “ “ “ “ “ “XX

5 New Approaches for VG 2006, 2007, and 2008: We’re Really Moving Now! Will we be successful in accomplishing the 2008 VG agenda? Consider as we go … should we make any adjustments to improve our approach?

6 New Approaches for VG 2006, 2007, and 2008: Other Things to Think About During the Course of This Week’s Meeting Assessing the cost/benefit of conceptual choices related to pricing and turnover/output (in anticipation of Friday morning session on methodology for determining costs associated with different choices of pricing methods and turnover detail) What should be the ultimate body of work produced by the Voorburg Group? Sausage & Salsa (meeting the variety of needs with respect to the national accounts, regulations, business, policy, international comparability, etc.)

7 New Approaches for VG 2006, 2007, and 2008: Other Things to Think About During the Course of This Week’s Meeting (continued) Sausage & Salsa (meeting the variety of needs with respect to the national accounts, regulations, business, policy, international comparability, etc.)