Keyword search

Description: Low income cut-offs (LICOs) are income thresholds, determined by analysing family expenditure data, below which families will devote a larger share of income to the necessities of food, shelter and clothing than the average family would. To reflect differences in the costs of necessities among different community and family sizes, LICOs are defined for five categories of community size and seven of family size.

Low income Measures (LIMs), on the other hand, are strictly relative measures of low income, set at 50% of adjusted median family income. These measures are categorized according to the number of adults and children present in families, reflecting the economies of scale inherent in family size and composition. This publication incorporates a detailed description of the methods used to arrive at both measurements. It also explains how base years are defined and how LICOs are updated using the Consumer Price Index.

Description: The Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) conducts an annual labour and income interview in January. The data are collected using computer-assisted interviewing; thus no paper questionnaire is required for data collection. The questions, responses and interview flow for labour and income are documented in another SLID research paper. This document presents the information for the 2007 entry and exit portions of the labour and income interview (reference year 2006).

The entry exit component consists of five separate modules. The entry module is the first set of data collected. It is information collected to update the place of residence, housing conditions and expenses, as well as the household composition. For each person identified in entry, the demographics module collects (or updates) the person's name, date of birth, sex and marital status. Then the relationships module identifies (or updates) the relationship between each respondent and every other household member. The exit module includes questions on who to contact for the next interview and the names, phone numbers and addresses of two contacts to be used only if future tracing of respondents is required. An overview of the tracing component is also included in this document.

Description: The Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) is a longitudinal survey which collects information related to the standard of living of individuals and their families. By interviewing the same people over a period of six years, changes and the causes of these changes can be monitored.

A preliminary interview of background information is collected for all respondents aged 16 and over, who enter the SLID sample. Preliminary interviews are conducted for new household members during their first labour and income interview after they join the household. A labour and income interview is collected each year for all respondents 16 years of age and over.

The purpose of this document is to present the questions, possible responses and question flows for the 2007 preliminary, labour and income questionnaire (for the 2006 reference year).

Description:

A key family event, the birth of a child also has broader economic implications. If a mother stays home for an extended period after childbirth, her propensity to work in the future may be reduced since a long career interruption can affect job skills and chances of finding a new job. Although the tradition that women withdraw completely from the labour market upon giving birth has long gone, some mothers may still quit their jobs due to work schedule inflexibility, commuting difficulties, or lack of child care services. Although earnings drops were greater for the early 2000s cohorts of mothers than for the mid-1980s cohorts, the earnings recovery process was shorter.

Description:

Since shelter is the biggest expenditure most households make, its affordability can have a big impact on their wellbeing. Measuring affordability involves comparing housing costs with a household's ability to meet them. Up to now, affordability has been measured at a particular time. New information enables a first-ever longitudinal review of housing affordability. This article examines the likelihood of spending 30% or more of household income on shelter, how often this occurs and whether it is occasional or persistent.

Description:

Starting in 1994, the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) will follow individuals and families for at least six years, tracking their labour market experiences, changes in income and family circumstances. An initial proposal for the content of SLID, entitled "Content of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics : Discussion Paper", was distributed in February 1992.

That paper served as a background document for consultation with and a review by interested users. The content underwent significant change during this process. Based upon the revised content, a large-scale test of SLID will be conducted in February and May 1993.

The present document outlines the income and wealth content to be tested in May 1993. This document is really a continuation of SLID Research Paper Series 92-01A, which outlines the demographic and labour content used in the January /February 1993 test.

Description: Shelter is the biggest expenditure most households make and its affordability can have an impact on the wellbeing of household members. For this reason, housing affordability is closely watched by a wide range of stakeholders - from housing advocates to policy analysts - interested in the welfare of Canadians. Measuring affordability involves comparing housing costs to a household's ability to meet them. One common measure is the shelter-cost-to-income-ratio (STIR). The 30% level is commonly accepted as the upper limit for affordable housing. Housing affordability is also a critical input to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's core housing need indicator which is used by governments to help design, deliver, fund and evaluate social housing programs. This report, jointly authored by Statistics Canada and CMHC, focuses purely on the dynamics of housing affordability, not on core housing need. It examines the likelihood of spending 30% or more of household income on shelter, how often this occurs, whether it is occasional or persistent, and contrasts those spending 30% or more to those spending less. Cross-sectional estimates indicate that around 19% of Canadians lived in households spending more than the affordability benchmark in 2002. Longitudinally however, less than 9% lived in households that spent above the benchmark in each year between 2002 and 2004, while another 19% lived in households spending above the benchmark for either one or two years. The attributes associated with the highest probabilities of living in a household spending above the affordability benchmark were: living alone, being a female lone parent, renting, being an immigrant, or living in Vancouver or Toronto. In addition, those living in households experiencing some kind of transition between 2002 and 2004 period had a higher probability of exceeding the benchmark at least once during the period. Such transitions included renters with a change in rent-subsidy status, those who changed from owner to renter or vice versa, those who changed family type (for example, marrying or divorcing), and those who moved between cities. Notably, those experiencing these transitions did not exceed the benchmark persistently.

Description:

Challenges associated with the integration of immigrants often extend beyond the first generation. If children of immigrants experience similar impediments to social and economic assimilation as their parents did, then low socioeconomic status may be transmitted between generations. Such scenarios of second-class disadvantage may not apply to Canada. Even if immigrant earnings deficits relative to the native-born are increasing, it does not necessarily mean that children of immigrants will be worse off than the children of Canadian-born parents.

Description:

Prime-aged couples experienced a moderate decline in RPP coverage over the last two decades, as the substantial growth in wives labour market participation and the slight increase in their RPP coverage only partially offset a substantial decline in husbands coverage. On average, retirement savings of families rose over the last two decades, but the distribution became more unequal. To a large extent, the uneven growth in retirement savings mirrors the sharp increase in family earnings inequality since the early 1980s.

Description: The Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID), introduced in the 1993 reference year, is a longitudinal panel survey of individuals. The purpose of the survey is to measure changes in the economic well-being of individuals and the factors that influence these changes. SLID's sample is divided into two overlapping panels, each six years in length. Longitudinal surveys like SLID are complex due to the dynamic nature of the sample, which in turn is due to the ever-changing composition of households and families over the years. For each reference year, SLID produces two sets of weights: one is representative of the initial population (the longitudinal weights), while the other is representative of the current population (the cross-sectional weights). Since 2002, SLID has been producing a third set of weights which combines two panels that overlap to form a new longitudinal sample. The new weights are referred to as combined longitudinal weights.

For the production of the cross-sectional weights, SLID combines two independent samples and assigns a probability of selection to individuals who joined the sample after the panel was selected. Like cross-sectional weights, longitudinal weights are adjusted for non-response and influential values. In addition, the sample is adjusted to make it representative of the target population. The purpose of this document is to describe SLID's methodology for the longitudinal and cross-sectional weights, as well as to present problems that have been encountered, and solutions that have been proposed. For the purpose of illustration, results for the 2003 reference year are used. The methodology used to produce the combined longitudinal weights will not be presented in this document as there is a complete description in Naud (2004).

Description: Number of persons in low income, low income rate and average gap ratio by age, gender and economic family type, annual.

Description: Low income statistics by age, gender and economic family type, annual.

Description:

Low income measure (LIM) thresholds by household size for market income, total income and after-tax income, in current and constant dollars, annual.

Description:

Distribution of market, total and after-tax income by economic family type, Canada, provinces and selected census metropolitan areas (CMAs), annual.

Description:

Distribution of market, total and after-tax income of individuals, Canada, provinces and selected census metropolitan areas, annual.

Description: Income of individuals by age group, gender and income source, Canada, provinces and selected census metropolitan areas, annual.

Description:

Low income cut-offs (LICOs) before and after tax by community size and family size, in current dollars, annual.

Description: The Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP) draws from a wide variety of data sources to provide information on the school-age population, elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, transitions, and labour market outcomes.

PCEIP products include data tables, fact sheets, an interactive dashboard, a data explorer, and a handbook. They present indicators for all of Canada, the provinces, the territories, and include year over year comparisons.

The PCEIP is an ongoing initiative of the Canadian Education Statistics Council, a partnership between Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada that provides a set of statistical measures on education systems in Canada.

Description: Percentage of the population aged 0 to 24 in low income, by age group and type of living arrangement. This table is included in Section A: A portrait of the school-age population: Low income of the Pan Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP). PCEIP draws from a wide variety of data sources to provide information on the school-age population, elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, transitions, education finance and labour market outcomes. The program presents indicators for all of Canada, the provinces, the territories, as well as selected international comparisons and comparisons over time. PCEIP is an ongoing initiative of the Canadian Education Statistics Council, a partnership between Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada that provides a set of statistical measures on education systems in Canada.

Description: This report is a product of the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP). It is intended to facilitate the comparison of educational systems in Canada's provinces and territories with those of countries that belong to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The document presents a series of indicators harmonized to the definitions and methodologies used by the OECD in Education at a Glance. The indicators are designed to serve as a basis for decision making and for development of programs in the field of education.

PCEIP is an ongoing initiative of the Canadian Education Statistics Council: a partnership between Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, that provides a set of statistical measures on education systems.

Description:

For some time, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has used data on housing characteristics and housing-related expenditures from the Census of Population. Although the Census data source serves CMHC's purposes to a large extent, the federal government agency turned to the annual household surveys of Statistics Canada to provide information on a more frequent basis. This would allow them to have a better picture of annual trends, and perhaps have a greater choice of other characteristics with which to cross housing data on Canadian households. In 2001, CMHC began to sponsor additional content in both the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) and the Survey of Household Spending (SHS), starting with reference year 2002.

Description:

This article investigates factors influencing the chances of find a job for people who were unemployed for more than six months in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Results for the short-term jobless are included for comparison.

Description:

The Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) is a longitudinal survey initiated in 1993. The survey was designed to measure changes in the economic well-being of Canadians as well as the factors affecting these changes.

Sample surveys are subject to errors. As with all surveys conducted at Statistics Canada, considerable time and effort is taken to control such errors at every stage of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics. Nonetheless errors do occur. It is the policy at Statistics Canada to furnish users with measures of data quality so that the user is able to interpret the data properly. This report summarizes a set of quality measures that has been produced in an attempt to describe the overall quality of SLID data. Among the measures included in the report are sample composition and attrition rates, sampling errors, coverage errors in the form of slippage rates, response rates, tax permission and tax linkage rates, and imputation rates.

Description:

Statistics Canada has been publishing data on low-income Canadians for more than 30 years. In the past, these measures were published separately in Low income cut-offs (Catalogue no. 13-551-XPB) and Low income measures, low-income after-tax cut-offs and low-income after-tax measures (Catalogue no. 13F0019-XPB). Henceforth, all these measures will be incorporated in this publication.

As well as the various cut-offs, this publication contains a detailed description of the methods used to arrive at the cut-off points. There is also an explanation of how base years are defined, and how the cut-offs are updated using the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Description:

This article looks at the characteristics of three distinct groups of non-standard workers: the self-employed, employees with permanent part-time jobs, and temporary employees. The economic consequences of non-standard work depend greatly on whether the situation is short-term or long-term.

Description:

Comparative analysis of poverty dynamics incidence - transitions, and persistence - can yield important insights about the nature of poverty and the effectiveness of alternative policy responses. This manuscript compares poverty dynamics in four advanced industrial countries (Canada, unified Germany, Great Britain, and the United States) for overlapping six-year periods in the 1990s. The data indicate that poverty persistence is higher in North America than in Europe; for example, despite high incidence, poverty in Great Britain is relatively transitory. Most poverty transitions, and the prevalence of chronic poverty, are associated with employment instability and family dissolution in all four countries. The results also suggest that differences in social policy are crucial for the observed differences in poverty incidence and persistence between Europe and North America.

Description:

This study compares income estimates across several statistical programs at Statistics Canada. It examines how similar the estimates produced by different question sets are.

Income data are collected by many household surveys. Some surveys have income as a major part of their content, and therefore collect income at a detailed level; others collect data from a much smaller set of income questions. No standard sets of income questions have been developed.

Description:

This article takes a brief look at family incomes in 2002 and changes since 1980.

Description:

RRSPs are not always used as a source of income in retirement. This article examines premature RRSP withdrawals between 1993 and 2001, and whether major life events such as marital separation, death of a spouse or job loss affect this behaviour.

Description:

This paper consolidates existing information on the measurement of low income in Canada, and indicates the current status of the three measures of low income in Canada: the low income cut-offs (LICOs), the low income measures (LIMs) and the market basket measure (MBM). The methodology of each measure is presented, and future developments in the measurement of low income are discussed.

Description:

In May 2004 the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) collected data on income from both its third and fourth panels. Panel 3 was in its fifth year of collection and panel 4 was in its second year.

Respondents had the option of answering income questions in an interview, or of giving permission to Statistics Canada to allow SLID to use the information on their income tax return.

The purpose of this document is to present the questions, possible responses and question flows for the 2004 Income questionnaire (for the 2003 reference year).

Description:

This paper describes the changes made to the structure of geography information on SLID from reference year 1999 onwards. It goes into reasons for changing to the 2001 Census-based geography, shows how the overlap between the 1991 and 2001 Census-based concepts are handled, provides detail on how the geographic concepts are implemented, discusses a new imputation procedure and finishes with an illustration of the impact of these changes on selected tables.

Description:

This document presents information about the entry-exit portion of the annual labour and the income interviews of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID).

Description:

This document outlines the structure of the January 2003 labour interview of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID), including question wording, possible responses and flows of questions.

Description:

This paper describes the collection method and content of the 2003 income interview of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID). Respondents also had the option of giving Statistics Canada permission to use the information on their income tax return.

Description:

This document presents the questions, possible responses and question flows for the 2003 preliminary questionnaire of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID).

Description:

This paper presents the information for the Entry Exit portion of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) Income interview.

Description:

This document presents the information for the Entry Exit portion of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) Labour interview.

Description:

This document presents the questions, question flows and possible responses for the 2002 Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) preliminary questionnaire.

Description:

This document outlines the structure of the January 2002 Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) labour interview. It includes the wording of questions, the flow of questions and possible responses.