Using Administrative Data to Study Education in Canada

The Educational Master File (EMF) system was built to allow the analysis of educational programs in Canada. At the core of the system are administrative files that record all of the registrations to post-secondary and apprenticeship programs in Canada. New administrative files become available on an annual basis. Once a new file becomes available, a first round of processing is performed, which includes linkage to other administrative records. This linkage yields information that can improve the quality of the file, it allows further linkages to other data describing labour market outcomes, and it’s the first step in adding the file to the EMF. Once part of the EMF, information from the file can be included in cross-sectional and longitudinal projects, to study academic pathways and labour market outcomes after graduation. The EMF currently consists of data from 2005 to 2013, but it evolves as new data become available. This paper gives an overview of the mechanisms used to build the EMF, with focus on the structure of the final system and some of its analytical potential.