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This paper starts from the definition that "structural unemployment occurs when workers are unable to fill available jobs because they lack the skills, do not live where jobs are available, or are unwilling to work at the wage rate offered in the market." This implies that the number of vacancies in the Canadian labour market is an upper bound to the extent of "structural unemployment". The paper summarizes available estimates of the vacancy rate in Canada. In the high technology sector, vacancies may be equivalent to 2.2% of the labour force but evidence from more representative surveys indicates a range of 0.43% to 0.75% for the economy as a whole. Although during the 1980s the outward shift in the relationship between the Help-Wanted Index and the unemployment rate raised concerns that structural unemployment was an increasing problem in Canada, that shift has been reversed in the 1990s.

North American transportation in figures provides a comprehensive set of comparable statistical indicators of the use, performance and impact of transportation in North America. It includes over 90 different data tables, supported by figures, maps and extensive technical documentation describing data categories and definitions relating to each country, that is, Canada, Mexico and the United States. The report covers a wide variety of transportation subjects across the three countries: including transportation and the economy; safety; merchandise trade; freight activity; passenger travel; infrastructure; and transportation energy and environment.

The Guide to health statistics leads to health-related information with links to vital statistics such as births, deaths, marriages and divorces, to cancer statistics, health determinants, health status, health care, smoking and tobacco use and more. There is also information on cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys from the Canadian Community Health Survey and the National Population Health Survey.

This user's guide has been developed by Health Statistics Division to facilitate access on health information at Statistics Canada. It includes information with links to products and programs from Health Statistics Division, other divisions at Statistics Canada and other health related programs outside Statistics Canada.

The first survey of innovation, advanced technologies and practices in the Canadian construction sector was recently conducted. Of the five types of technologies listed in the survey, communications technologies have the highest percentage of use (46% of businesses). Of all the techonolgies, three computer-related technologies had the highest percentage of use : e-mail (38%), company computer networks (25%) and computer aided design (23%). The three advanced practices with the largest percentage of business using them, each with one third of businesses, are: design-build contracts, computerized inventory control and computerized estimating software.

The growing trend towards a knowledge-based economy has impacted the way research is funded and performed in Canadian universities. As higher quality estimates of R&D activities by this sector are of increasing importance to policy makers, Statistics Canada has begun substantial revisions to the methods for calculating estimates for higher education R&D. The implementation of this plan will provide substantially improved estimates of both dollar values and personnel counts for this sector.

Although universities and federal government departments have unique mandates, both are striving to promote applied research. Recent surveys finally provide a basis for comparison. In 1999, universities reported over 1,800 active patents with royalties approaching $19 million. Federal governments departments had almost 2,000 patents generating $12 million in royalties.

Why do innovation surveys produce radically different estimates of the number of R&D performers than R&D surveys? The factors contributing to divergence are presented with detail on selected contributors.

Given the high cost of R&D, adopting the correct strategies and mix of products is required for success for Canadian biotechnology firms. A recent survey examined the rapid growth of 30 companies. Fast-growing enterprises adopted a strategy of patenting their products, avoiding major production delays, targeting export markets, accessing venture capital, conducting key alliances, and planning the IPO.

Technological change and innovations depend greatly on R&D activities and investments. R&D is concentrated around the "core firms" that are responsible for 87% of expenditures. Biotechnology R&D performers accounted for $904 million of R&D expenditure. Biotechnology R&D is concentrated in large firms with 75% of R&D occuring in firms with 100 or more employees. Almost 77% of funding sources for R&D in biotechnology came from the private sector and 21% from foreign sources.

In the private sector, 10.1% of enterprises use the Internet to sell goods and services. The information and cultural industries utilize this growing form of commerce the greatest (20.1%). In comparison, 14.5% of public sector institutions sell goods or services with educational services leading the way, followed by federal and provincial governments.

This publication presents a timely picture of employment, earnings and hours which is vital for Canada's businesses and governments for planning and decision-making purposes. The tabulations focus on annual labour market information and historical data series. The major economic variables for over 280 industries are provided at the national and provincial/territorial level. The publication includes notes on the concepts and methods of the monthly survey. The "Help-Wanted index 1981-1999 supplement" is included in this publication.

Reduced barriers to trade across North America and increasingly mobile populations have created a heightened need for information on transportation services and infrastructure. North American transportation highlights provides key summary statistics on trade and travel, safety, and energy use of transportation in Mexico, the United States and Canada. Statistical tables and charts contained within the report are accompanied by data sources and notes describing data categories and definitions relating to each country.

The report was developed under the framework of the North American Transportation Statistics Interchange representing the transportation and statistical agencies of Mexico, the United States and Canada. Participating agencies include the Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes, the Instituto Mexicano del Transporte, and the Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografía e Informática from México; the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and the Census Bureau from the United States; Statistics Canada and Transport Canada. It was produced and released by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) in December 1999 and is part of more comprehensive report, North American transportation in figures (catalogue no. 50-501-XIE) released in October 2000.

There is a diversity of manufacturing activity that contributes to Canada's regional economies. The spatial distribution of these activities is far from symmetrical, with most activity being concentrated within the Québec City - Windsor corridor. In 1997, the provinces of Ontario and Québec accounted for approximately 76% of Canada's value of shipments. Using data from the Annual Survey of Manufactures, two maps have been created to highlight the predominant manufacturing activity by census division in 1983 and 1997. Employing advanced mapping software, it is possible to accurately make maps which show the correspondence between manufacturing activity and the ecumene. The brief discussion herein will help readers to interpret the enclosed maps.

The Manufacturing, Construction and Energy Division is engaged in finding alternatives to presenting data from the Annual Survey of Manufactures using advanced mapping technology. This technology enables us to present a coherent spatial representation of manufacturing activity across Canada. The interactive map presents provincial principle statistics and highlights, with a view to disseminating knowledge and stimulating discussion.

This bulletin is a preliminary release of 1998 annual data for the Cellular Telecommunications Industry (including PCS and ESMR service providers) with accompanying data from 1995.

The most recent issue contains "Food producers maintain expansion" by Peter Zylstra. Food commodity processors are engaged in a multitude of manufacturing activities. The aggregate performance of these is the subject of this article. Common influences on all processing industries that make up the Food Industries Major Group are examined, while specific ones that impact some and not others are also discussed. Growth in food industries has always been a function of population growth. In addition, health considerations and new product development are important factors. The summary of recent developments is based on results of the 1997 Annual Survey of Manufactures. Other sources are also used for industry analysis as well as for the provision of industry environment and economic background.

This article is divided into three sections. Section 1 describes results for small for-hire carriers; section 2 contains data for owner operations; and section 3 provides a general discussion of Annual Motor Carriers of Freight survey data quality.

This study presents 1997/1998 LFS earnings estimates for about 85,000 drivers employed by for-hire carriers (companies whose principal business is transportation of goods for a fee) in comparison to drivers employed in private trucking (companies that transport their freight by truck, but whose principal business activity is not trucking) and the overall labour force. Wages and earnings estimated presented in this study exclude owner operators and self-employed workers.

This publication shows expenditures, by industry, for the various types of packaging materials.

The cable and other program distribution industry has reported revenues of $3.1 billion in 1998, a 10.0% increase over 1997. This relatively strong growth is due in large part to the fast growing non-basic services segment. While revenue from basic services grew moderately (2.1%) revenue from non-basic and other services increased by 29.0%.

Richard Platek, the founding Chairman, who remained at the helm of the Journal until 1987, has provided an excellent overview of the gradual evolution of the Journal from a modest divisional to a respected departmental publication and then to an international publication of repute.

Dr. Fellegi considers the challenges facing government statistical agencies and strategies to prepare for these challenges. He first describes the environment of changing information needs and the social, economic and technological developments driving this change. He goes on to describe both internal and external elements of a strategy to meet these evolving needs. Internally, a flexible capacity for survey taking and information gathering must be developed. Externally, contacts must be developed to ensure continuing relevance of statistical programs while maintaining non-political objectivity.

Leslie Kish describes the challenges and opportunities of combining data from surveys of different populations. Examples include multinational surveys where the data from surveys of several countries are combined for comparison and analysis, as well as cumulated periodic surveys of the "same" population. He also compares and contrasts the combining of surveys with the combining of experiments.

In 1999 Statistics Sweden outlined a proposal for improved quality within the European Statistical System (ESS). The ESS comprises Eurostat and National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) associated with Eurostat. ... Basically Statistics Sweden proposed the creation of a LEG [Leadership Expert Group] on Quality].

In his paper Fritz Scheuren considers the possible uses of administrative records to enhance and improve population censuses. After reviewing previous uses of administrative records in an international context, he puts forward several proposals for research and development towards increased use of administrative records in the American statistical system.

Godambe and Thompson consider the problem of confidence intervals in survey sampling. They first review the use of estimating functions to obtain model robust pivotal quantities and associated confidence intervals, and then discuss the adaptation of this approach to the survey sampling context. Details are worked out for some more specific types of models, and an empirical comparison of this approach with more conventional methods is presented.

J.N.K. Rao gives an overview of the methods and models used for small area estimation. This is an update of his previous overview (Ghosh and Rao, 1994, Statistical Science). He first presents a general discussion of small area models, making a distinction between area level models and unit level models. He then describes the development in three main approaches for inference based on these models: EBLUP, EB and HB, gives several examples of recent applications. Finally, he presents an interesting discussion identifying the gaps and areas that require further research.

Sirken and Shimizu derive a Horvitz-Thompson estimator for population based establishment sample surveys (PBESs). A PBES is a survey of establishments where the sampling frame consists of establishments with which a preliminary sample of households or individuals has had some contact.

Jean-Claude Deville shows how to use simple tools to calculate the variance of a complex estimator using a linearization technique. The process is that of a software used at INSEE for estimation of the variance of a complex estimator. It gives a way of computing the variance of a total estimated by the simple expansion estimator. In the case of a complex statistic, the process uses a derived variable that reduces the computations to those of the simple expansion estimator. Multiple examples are given to illustrate the process.

Brewer proposes a method of weight calibration in survey sampling, called cosmetic calibration, which yields cosmetic estimators of totals, i.e. estimators that can be interpreted as both design-based and prediction based. He also discusses variance estimation and shows how the problem of negative weights can be easily and naturally handled using cosmetic calibration. Finally he compares the properties of the weights and the resulting estimators to some alternative approaches using some Australian far data.

This paper states how SN is preparing for a new era in the making of statistics, as it is triggered by technological and methodological developments. An essential feature of the turn to the new era is the farewell to the stovepipe way of data processing. The paper discusses how new technological and methodological tools will affect processes and their organization. Special emphasis is put on one of the major chances and challenges the new tools offer: establishing coherence in the content of statistics and in the presentation to users.

The Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) links immigration and taxation administrative records into a comprehensive source of data on the labour market behaviour of the landed immigrant population in Canada. It covers the period 1980 to 1995 and will be updated annually starting with the 1996 tax year in 1999. Statistics Canada manages the database on behalf of a federal-provincial consortium led by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The IMDB was created specifically to respond to the need for detailed and reliable data on the performance and impact of immigration policies and programs. It is the only source of data at Statistics Canada that provides a direct link between immigration policy levers and the economic performance of immigrants. The paper will examine the issues related to the development of a longitudinal database combining administrative records to support policy-relevant research and analysis. Discussion will focus specifically on the methodological, conceptual, analytical and privacy issues involved in the creation and ongoing development of this database. The paper will also touch briefly on research findings, which illustrate the policy outcome links the IMDB allows policy-makers to investigate.

One method of enriching survey data is to supplement information collected directly from the respondent with that obtained from administrative systems. The aims of such a practice include being able to collect data which might not otherwise be possible, provision of better quality information for data items which respondents may not be able to report accurately (or not at all) reduction of respondent load, and maximising the utility of information held in administrative systems. Given the direct link with administrative information, the data set resulting from such techniques is potentially a powerful basis for policy-relevant analysis and evaluation. However, the processes involved in effectively combining data from different sources raise a number of challenges which need to be addressed by the parties involved. These include issues associated with privacy, data linking, data quality, estimation, and dissemination.

We estimate the parameters of a stochastic model for labour force careers involving distributions of correlated durations employed, unemployed (with and without job search) and not in the labour force. If the model is to account for sub-annual labour force patterns as well as advancement towards retirement, then no single data source is adequate to inform it. However, it is possible to build up an approximation from a number of different sources.

The U.S. Manufacturing Plant Ownership Change Database (OCD) was constructed using plant-level data taken from the Census Bureau's Longitudinal Research Database (LRD). It contains data on all manufacturing plants that have experienced ownership change at least once during the period 1963-92. This paper reports the status of the OCD and discuss its research possibilities. For an empirical demonstration, data taken from the database are used to study the effects of ownership changes on plant closure.

Objective: To create an occupational surveillance system by collecting, linking, evaluating and disseminating data relating to occupation and mortality with the ultimate aim of reducing or preventing excess risk among workers and the general population.

Time series studies have shown associations between air pollution concentrations and morbidity and mortality. These studies have largely been conducted within single cities, and with varying methods. Critics of these studies have questioned the validity of the data sets used and the statistical techniques applied to them; the critics have noted inconsistencies in findings among studies and even in independent re-analyses of data from the same city. In this paper we review some of the statistical methods used to analyze a subset of a national data base of air pollution, mortality and weather assembled during the National Morbidity and Mortality Air Pollution Study (NMMAPS).

Radon, a naturally occurring gas found at some level in most homes, is an established risk factor for human lung cancer. The U.S. National Research Council (1999) has recently completed a comprehensive evaluation of the health risks of residential exposure to radon, and developed models for projecting radon lung cancer risks in the general population. This analysis suggests that radon may play a role in the etiology of 10-15% of all lung cancer cases in the United States, although these estimates are subject to considerable uncertainty. In this article, we present a partial analysis of uncertainty and variability in estimates of lung cancer risk due to residential exposure to radon in the United States using a general framework for the analysis of uncertainty and variability that we have developed previously. Specifically, we focus on estimates of the age-specific excess relative risk (ERR) and lifetime relative risk (LRR), both of which vary substantially among individuals.

There are many different situations in which one or more files need to be linked. With one file the purpose of the linkage would be to locate duplicates within the file. When there are two files, the linkage is done to identify the units that are the same on both files and thus create matched pairs. Often records that need to be linked do not have a unique identifier. Hierarchical record linkage, probabilistic record linkage and statistical matching are three methods that can be used when there is no unique identifier on the files that need to be linked. We describe the major differences between the methods. We consider how to choose variables to link, how to prepare files for linkage and how the links are identified. As well, we review tips and tricks used when linking files. Two examples, the probabilistic record linkage used in the reverse record check and the hierarchical record linkage of the Business Number (BN) master file to the Statistical Universe File (SUF) of unincorporated tax filers (T1) will be illustrated.

As the availability of both health utilization and outcome information becomes increasingly important to health care researchers and policy makers, the ability to link person-specific health data becomes a critical objective. This type of linkage of population-based administrative health databases has been realized in British Columbia. The database was created by constructing an historical file of all persons registered with the health care system, and then by probabilistically linking various program files to this 'coordinating' file. The first phase of development included the linkage of hospital discharge data, physician billing data, continuing care data, data about drug costs for the elderly, births data and deaths data. The second phase of development has seen the addition data sources external to the Ministry of Health including cancer incidence data, workers' compensation data, and income assistance data.