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Description:

A framework for the dynamic analysis of unemployment is presented, and applied to Canadian and U.S. data. The focus of the analysis is upon the distinctionbetween being unemployed and becoming unemployed, that is, between the stock and the flow of unemployment. The share of a particular group in the stock ofunemployed will differ from its share in the flow into unemployment to the extent that the average duration of unemployment for the group differs from the economywide average. An analysis of Canadian and U.S. data leads to a series of stylized facts that permit a deeper understanding of unemployment in the two countries, andof the differences between them. Significant differences in the average duration of unemployment imply that stock shares are not good indicators of flow shares,changes in the stock share of some groups are due to changes in the flow share, while for others they are due to changes in the length of unemployment spells.Explanations of the Canada - U.S. unemployment rate gap should try to accommodate at least three facts uncovered by the analysis: (1) that employer initiatedpermanent separations are the primary means of entry into unemployment in Canada, while labour force entry plays a more important role in the US; (2)unemployment spells are significantly longer in Canada than in the U.S. because of longer spells for most groups regardless of reason for unemployment, not becauseof a compositional difference in the make up of the unemployed; and (3) that longer spell duration and a higher incidence of unemployment contribute about equallyto the trend increase in the Canada - U.S. unemployment differential during the 1980s.

Description:

Police-reported violent crime in Canada increased steadily from the early 1970s through to the early 1990s. Homicides, in particular, tend to be widely covered in the media, especially those of a brutal nature or those targeting the more vulnerable members of society. The 1993 General Social Survey indicated a growing concern among Canadians about threats of attack or violence. Yet the homicide rate has gradually been declining since the mid 1970s.

Description:

The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) measured the variation in basic literacy skills of adults in seven industrialized nations. This note outlines the aims and methodology of the landmark study and provides a snapshot of results for people in Canada, the United States and Germany.

Description:

Last November, Statistics Canada hosted its 12th annual International Symposium on Methodology Issues. This report outlines selected speakers' observations about the radical changes taking place in the creation and delivery of statistical information.

Description:

This study is one of a series that examines how technology adoption affects the skills of workers. Previous papers in the series have approached this issue in differentways with data from a variety of sources. Using data on the strategies and activities of small and medium-sized firms in both manufacturing and services industries,Baldwin and Johnson (1995), Baldwin, Johnson and Pedersen (1996) examine the connection between the different strategies that are pursued by growing firms.Firms that stress technological competencies are found to also place a greater emphasis on skill enhancement and training activities. Using survey data on the type oftechnology used in manufacturing plants and plant managers' perceptions of the skill requirements and training costs associated with the adoption of newtechnologies, Baldwin, Gray and Johnson (1995) find that technology use leads to greater skill requirements, more training, and higher training costs.This paper uses survey data on the incidence of advanced technology adoption and matched panel data on plant characteristics such as wages, capital intensity, andsize to examine the connection between technology use and the wage rates received by workers. Since higher wages are associated with higher skill levels,establishing a connection between technology use and wages reinforces the earlier findings.

Description:

This paper describes the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) following rules, which govern who is traced and who is interviewed. It also outlines the conceptual basis for these procedures.

Description:

This paper evaluates the effects of dependent interviewing on the 1994 Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) labour data using some early results.

Description:

In 1994, Statistics Canada began data collection for the National Population Health Survey (NPHS), a household survey designed to mesure the health status of Canadians and to expand knowledge of health determinants. The survey is longitudinal, with data being collected on selected panel members every second year. This article focuses on the NPHS sample design ant its rationale. Topics include sample allocation, representativeness, and selection; modifications in Quebec and the territories; and integration of the NPHS with the National Longitudinal Survey of Children. The final section considers some methodological issues to be addresses in future waves of the survey.

Description:

Changes in Statistics Canada's annual population estimates, introduced in 1993, have an impact on a wide range of social, economic and demographic indicators. Any indicator that relies on population estimates will be affected by the new figures. This article describes the adjustment and examines its impact on health and vital statistics rates. With rare exceptions, all rates decrease as the denominators are adjusted upward. For example, accident rates, suicide rates, and age-specific fertility rates based on the adjustment population are lower than those previously calculated. The extent of the adjustment, however, depends on the geographic and demographic characteristics of the population at risk. Analysts whose work concentrates on special subgroups for whom the adjustment is particularly great (such as young adult men) may wish to pay closer attention to the new population figures. Although the new rates are lower than before, underlying trends and patterns over time or across subcategories are quite similar. The revised series incorporates estimates of net census undercoverage, and for the first time, includes non-permanent residents. In 1991, net census undercoverage and non-permanent residents together amounted to about one million persons, or 3.6% of the revised Canadian population of 28,120,100.

Description:

The statistical observation that small firms have created the majority of new jobs during the 1980s has had a tremendous influence on public policy. Governmentshave looked to the small firm sector for employment growth, and have promoted policies to augment this expansion. However, recent research in the US suggeststhat net job creation in the small firm sector may have been overestimated, relative to that in large firms. This paper addresses various measurement issues raised inthe recent research, and uses a very unique Canadian longitudinal data set that encompasses all companies in the Canadian economy to reassess the issue of jobcreation by firm size. We conclude that over the 1978-92 period, for both the entire Canadian economy and the manufacturing sector, the growth rate of (net)employment decreases monotonically as the size of firm increases, no matter which method of sizing firms is used. The small firm sector has accounted for adisproportionate share of both gross job gains and job losses, and in that aggregate, accounted for a disproportionate share of the employment increase over theperiod. Measurement does matter, however, as the magnitude of the difference in the growth rates of small and large firms is very sensitive to the measurementapproaches used. The paper also produces results for various industrial sectors, asks whether the more rapid growth in industries with a high proportion of smallfirms is responsible for the findings at the all-economy level, and examines employment growth in existing small and large firms (ie excluding births). It is found thatemployment growth in the population of existing small and large firms is very similar.

Description:

The first in this series is the Consulting Engineering Services Price Index (CEPI) which is an annual index that measures changes in the prices for services provided by consulting engineers. These services encompass advisory and design work as well as construction or project management. They are provided for many types of projects (fields of specialization), and to both Canadian and foreign clients. Price indexes are published for 10 fields of specialization as well as for national, regional, and foreign markets.

Description:

The National Population Health Survey (NPHS) is designed to enhance the understanding of the processes affecting health. The survey collects cross-sectional as well as longitudinal data. In 1994/95 the survey interviewed a panel of 17,276 individuals, then returned to interview them a second time in 1996/97. The response rate for these individuals was 96% in 1996/97. Data collection from the panel will continue for up to two decades. For cross-sectional purposes, data were collected for a total of 81,000 household residents in all provinces (except people on Indian reserves or on Canadian Forces bases) in 1996/97.

This overview illustrates the variety of information available by presenting data on perceived health, chronic conditions, injuries, repetitive strains, depression, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, consultations with medical professionals, use of medications and use of alternative medicine.

Description:

Documentation to accompany public-use microdata files. Contains a detailed description of the survey design, content and methods, as well as the record layout and the data dictionary.

Description:

Cycle 10 collected data from persons 15 years and older and concentrated on the respondent's family. Topics covered include marital history, common- law unions, biological, adopted and step children, family origins, child leaving and fertility intentions.

The target population of the GSS (General Social Survey) consisted of all individuals aged 15 and over living in a private household in one of the ten provinces.

Description:

SILC (Statistics on Income and Living Conditions) is an annual European survey that measures the population's income distribution, poverty and living conditions. It has been conducted in Switzerland since 2007, based on a four-panel rotation scheme that yields both cross-sectional and longitudinal estimates. This article examines the problem of estimating the variance of the cross-sectional poverty and social exclusion indicators selected by Eurostat. Our calculations take into account the non-linearity of the estimators, total non-response at different survey stages, indirect sampling and calibration. We adapt the method proposed by Lavallée (2002) for estimating variance in cases of non-response after weight sharing, and we obtain a variance estimator that is asymptotically unbiased and very easy to program.

Description:

A question that commonly arises in longitudinal surveys is the issue of how to combine differing cohorts of the survey. In this paper we present a novel method for combining different cohorts, and using all available data, in a longitudinal survey to estimate parameters of a semiparametric model, which relates the response variable to a set of covariates. The procedure builds upon the Weighted Generalized Estimation Equation method for handling missing waves in longitudinal studies. Our method is set up under a joint-randomization framework for estimation of model parameters, which takes into account the superpopulation model as well as the survey design randomization. We also propose a design-based, and a joint-randomization, variance estimation method. To illustrate the methodology we apply it to the Survey of Doctorate Recipients, conducted by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Description:

We consider two different self-benchmarking methods for the estimation of small area means based on the Fay-Herriot (FH) area level model: the method of You and Rao (2002) applied to the FH model and the method of Wang, Fuller and Qu (2008) based on augmented models. We derive an estimator of the mean squared prediction error (MSPE) of the You-Rao (YR) estimator of a small area mean that, under the true model, is correct to second-order terms. We report the results of a simulation study on the relative bias of the MSPE estimator of the YR estimator and the MSPE estimator of the Wang, Fuller and Qu (WFQ) estimator obtained under an augmented model. We also study the MSPE and the estimators of MSPE for the YR and WFQ estimators obtained under a misspecified model.

Description:

We consider conservative variance estimation for the Horvitz-Thompson estimator of a population total in sampling designs with zero pairwise inclusion probabilities, known as "non-measurable" designs. We decompose the standard Horvitz-Thompson variance estimator under such designs and characterize the bias precisely. We develop a bias correction that is guaranteed to be weakly conservative (nonnegatively biased) regardless of the nature of the non-measurability. The analysis sheds light on conditions under which the standard Horvitz-Thompson variance estimator performs well despite non-measurability and where the conservative bias correction may outperform commonly-used approximations.

Description:

Data matching is a common practice used to reduce the response burden of respondents and to improve the quality of the information collected from respondents when the linkage method does not introduce bias. However, historical linkage, which consists in linking external records from previous years to the year of the initial wave of a survey, is relatively rare and, until now, had not been used at Statistics Canada. The present paper describes the method used to link the records from the Living in Canada Survey pilot to historical tax data on income and labour (T1 and T4 files). It presents the evolution of the linkage rate going back over time and compares earnings data collected from personal income tax returns with those collected from employers file. To illustrate the new possibilities of analysis offered by this type of linkage, the study concludes with an earnings profile by age and sex for different cohorts based on year of birth.

Description:

We present a generalized estimating equations approach for estimating the concordance correlation coefficient and the kappa coefficient from sample survey data. The estimates and their accompanying standard error need to correctly account for the sampling design. Weighted measures of the concordance correlation coefficient and the kappa coefficient, along with the variance of these measures accounting for the sampling design, are presented. We use the Taylor series linearization method and the jackknife procedure for estimating the standard errors of the resulting parameter estimates. Body measurement and oral health data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey are used to illustrate this methodology.

Description:

These short analytical articles provide complementary analysis to the 2011 Census analytical document. These articles allow for a more in-depth look to relevant topics related to the Canadian population. The three articles linked to the age and sex release are entitled 'Centenarians in Canada,' 'Generations in Canada' and 'The census: A tool for planning at the local level.'

Description:

This paper examines the process by which migrants experience gains in earnings subsequent to migration and, in particular, the advantage that migrants obtain from moving to large, dynamic metropolitan labour markets, using Toronto as a benchmark. There are two potentially distinct patterns to gains in earnings associated with migration. The first is a step upwards in which workers realize immediate gains in earnings subsequent to migration. The second is accelerated gains in earnings subsequent to migration. Immediate gains are associated with obtaining a position in a more productive firm and/or a better match between worker skills and abilities and job tasks. Accelerated gains in earnings are associated processes that take time, such as learning or job switching as workers and firms seek out better matches. Evaluated here is the expectation that the economies of large metropolitan areas provide workers with an initial productive advantage stemming from a one-time improvement in worker productivity and/or a dynamic that accelerates gains in earnings over time through the potentially entwined processes of learning and matching. A variety of datasets and methodologies, including propensity score matching, are used to evaluate patterns of income gains associated with migration to Toronto.

Description:

This paper explains the methodology for creating Geozones, which are area-based thresholds of population characteristics derived from census data, which can be used in the analysis of social or economic differences in health and health service utilization.

Description:

This Economic Insight discusses price differences between Canada and the United States. It is based on the concepts and methods from Statistics Canada's Purchasing Power Parity program.

Description: This handbook complements the tables of the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP). It is a guide that provides general descriptions for each indicator and indicator component. PCEIP has five broad indicator sets: a portrait of the school-age population; financing education systems; elementary and secondary education; postsecondary education; and transitions and outcomes.

The Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP) is a joint venture of Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada.

Description: The Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD) is a national survey of Canadians aged 15 and over whose everyday activities are limited because of a long-term condition or health-related problem. The 2022 CSD Concepts and Methods Guide is designed to assist CSD data users by providing relevant information on survey content and concepts, sampling design, collection methods, data processing, data quality and product availability.

Description: This electronic publication presents the methodology underlying the production of the life tables for Canada, provinces and territories.

Description: The Census Subdivision Boundary File contains the boundaries of all census subdivisions which combined cover all of Canada. A census subdivision is a municipality or an area treated as an equivalent to a municipality for statistical purposes (for example, Indian reserves and unorganized territories). The file provides a framework for mapping and spatial analysis using commercially available geographic information systems (GIS) or other mapping software.

The Census Subdivision Boundary File is portrayed in Lambert conformal conic projection and is based on the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83). A reference guide is available (92-162-G).

Description: This reference guide is intended for users of the Census Subdivisions Boundary File. The guide provides an overview of the file, the general methodology used to create it, and important technical information for users.

Description: This document introduces and describes updates to the Labour Force Survey estimates in January 2023. These updates include the transition to National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021 as well as enhancements to the LFS data processing system.

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This paper introduces and explains modifications made to the Labour Force Survey estimates.

Description: This report aims to describe the methods used for the calculation of projection parameters, the various projection assumptions and their rationales.

Description:

This guide describes the content and applications of the product, as well as providing information on data quality, record layouts, and methodology.

Description:

This guide describes the content and applications of the product, as well as providing information on data quality, methodology and installation instructions.