Analysis

Description:

This study examines low income in Canada over a 34-year period from 1976 to 2009 with a multi-line, multi-index approach using data from the Survey of Consumer Finance (1976 to 1995) and Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (1996 to 2009). Three different low income lines are used: the Low Income Cut-offs (LICOs); the Low Income Measure (LIM) and the Market Basket Measure (MBM). In addition, three indexes are used to measure the incidence, depth and severity of low income in the study.

We first examine the evolution of low-income at the national level. This is followed by an investigation of the low income experiences of children, seniors, lone-parents, unattached non-elderly individuals, recent immigrants, off-reserve aboriginals and persons with activity limitations. Next, we compare low incomes across the ten provinces as well as seven Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA). Finally, we study low income mobility in Canada during the 1993-to-2009 period.

Description:

The gender gap in hourly wages narrowed between the late 1980s and the late 2000s. This article analyses the narrowing wage gap according to the changing characteristics of men and women in paid work, the changes in pay received for those characteristics, and the extent to which who works in each period affects the results.

Description:

Statistics Canada introduced its Low Income Measure (LIM) in 1991 as a complement to its Low Income Cut-Offs (LICOs). The Low Income Measure (LIM) is a dollar threshold that delineates low-income in relation to the median income and different versions of this measure are in wide use internationally. Over the intervening 25 years there have been a number of useful methodological and conceptual developments in the area of low income measurement. To make the Canadian LIM methodology consistent with international norms and practices, a revision of the Statistics Canada LIM methodology appears desirable.

This paper describes three modifications to the LIM that Statistics Canada plans to introduce in 2010: replacing the economic family by household; replacing the current LIM equivalence scale by the square root of household size; and taking household size into consideration in determining the low-income thresholds. The paper explains the rationale behind each modification and demonstrates the impacts the revisions will have on low-income statistics in comparison with those under the existing LIM. Overall the revisions do not have any significant effect on broad historic trends in low-income statistics in Canada. However, compared to the existing LIM the revised LIM produces lower estimates of low-income incidence for certain groups of individuals such as unattached non-elderly individuals.

Description:

International comparisons show that the percentage of both college- and university-educated workers who earn less than half of the median employment income is higher than in Canada than in most, if not all, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Data from Statistics Canada's Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) show that 18% of university-educated adults and 23% of college-educated adults aged 25 to 64 in Canada earned less than half the national median employment income in 2006.

This study uses descriptive statistics and logistic regression techniques in order to shed light on the type of highly educated worker who is likely to fall into lower employment earnings, taking into account a range of characteristics, including age, sex, field of study, occupation and industry. While all of the workers in the study population had non-zero employment earnings, many of them reported an activity other than working as their main activity for the year, a key factor in explaining their low-earnings situation. Other factors associated with having a college or university education while also having low employment earnings include being self-employed, working in certain occupations or industries and being female.

Description:

Like the United States and the United Kingdom, Canada has a higher proportion of low-paid jobs than Australia and most countries in continental Europe. While the differences with continental Europe highlight different approaches to the labour market, the much lower rate of low-paid work in Australia is more puzzling since that country shares many similarities with Canada. Differences in wage-setting mechanisms appear to play a role in explaining the disparity in rates of low-paid jobs.

Description:

Women's labour market participation has increased substantially over recent decades, creating challenges for families in balancing work-life responsibilities. The examination of family work patterns revealed significant differences in annual hours of work between families with and those without children.

Description: This research examines the characteristics of non-elderly unattached Canadians who experience persistent low income and their transition patterns into and out of low income. It also examines the factors associated with increased risk of persistent low income.

The study found that unattached individuals aged 45 to 64, the activity limited, the not employed, visible minorities, and high school leavers all faced a higher rate of the most persistent low income (6 years out 6). Family formation reduced the incidence and persistence of low income.

Statistical analyses showed that among working-aged unattached individuals, those who faced the greatest risks of the most persistent low income included the unemployed and those who had reported limitations to work. Individuals also at great risk were those who had not completed high school, those who were aged 45 to 64, or those whose unattached status remained unchanged over the six-year study period.

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:

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:

Using data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) this study examines the labour market experience of Canadians who hold a university diploma and who worked at least one month in a job requiring no more than a high school diploma between 1993 and 2001.

Description:

This study examines low income in Canada over a 34-year period from 1976 to 2009 with a multi-line, multi-index approach using data from the Survey of Consumer Finance (1976 to 1995) and Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (1996 to 2009). Three different low income lines are used: the Low Income Cut-offs (LICOs); the Low Income Measure (LIM) and the Market Basket Measure (MBM). In addition, three indexes are used to measure the incidence, depth and severity of low income in the study.

We first examine the evolution of low-income at the national level. This is followed by an investigation of the low income experiences of children, seniors, lone-parents, unattached non-elderly individuals, recent immigrants, off-reserve aboriginals and persons with activity limitations. Next, we compare low incomes across the ten provinces as well as seven Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA). Finally, we study low income mobility in Canada during the 1993-to-2009 period.

Description:

The gender gap in hourly wages narrowed between the late 1980s and the late 2000s. This article analyses the narrowing wage gap according to the changing characteristics of men and women in paid work, the changes in pay received for those characteristics, and the extent to which who works in each period affects the results.

Description:

Statistics Canada introduced its Low Income Measure (LIM) in 1991 as a complement to its Low Income Cut-Offs (LICOs). The Low Income Measure (LIM) is a dollar threshold that delineates low-income in relation to the median income and different versions of this measure are in wide use internationally. Over the intervening 25 years there have been a number of useful methodological and conceptual developments in the area of low income measurement. To make the Canadian LIM methodology consistent with international norms and practices, a revision of the Statistics Canada LIM methodology appears desirable.

This paper describes three modifications to the LIM that Statistics Canada plans to introduce in 2010: replacing the economic family by household; replacing the current LIM equivalence scale by the square root of household size; and taking household size into consideration in determining the low-income thresholds. The paper explains the rationale behind each modification and demonstrates the impacts the revisions will have on low-income statistics in comparison with those under the existing LIM. Overall the revisions do not have any significant effect on broad historic trends in low-income statistics in Canada. However, compared to the existing LIM the revised LIM produces lower estimates of low-income incidence for certain groups of individuals such as unattached non-elderly individuals.

Description:

International comparisons show that the percentage of both college- and university-educated workers who earn less than half of the median employment income is higher than in Canada than in most, if not all, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Data from Statistics Canada's Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) show that 18% of university-educated adults and 23% of college-educated adults aged 25 to 64 in Canada earned less than half the national median employment income in 2006.

This study uses descriptive statistics and logistic regression techniques in order to shed light on the type of highly educated worker who is likely to fall into lower employment earnings, taking into account a range of characteristics, including age, sex, field of study, occupation and industry. While all of the workers in the study population had non-zero employment earnings, many of them reported an activity other than working as their main activity for the year, a key factor in explaining their low-earnings situation. Other factors associated with having a college or university education while also having low employment earnings include being self-employed, working in certain occupations or industries and being female.

Description:

Like the United States and the United Kingdom, Canada has a higher proportion of low-paid jobs than Australia and most countries in continental Europe. While the differences with continental Europe highlight different approaches to the labour market, the much lower rate of low-paid work in Australia is more puzzling since that country shares many similarities with Canada. Differences in wage-setting mechanisms appear to play a role in explaining the disparity in rates of low-paid jobs.

Description:

Women's labour market participation has increased substantially over recent decades, creating challenges for families in balancing work-life responsibilities. The examination of family work patterns revealed significant differences in annual hours of work between families with and those without children.

Description: This research examines the characteristics of non-elderly unattached Canadians who experience persistent low income and their transition patterns into and out of low income. It also examines the factors associated with increased risk of persistent low income.

The study found that unattached individuals aged 45 to 64, the activity limited, the not employed, visible minorities, and high school leavers all faced a higher rate of the most persistent low income (6 years out 6). Family formation reduced the incidence and persistence of low income.

Statistical analyses showed that among working-aged unattached individuals, those who faced the greatest risks of the most persistent low income included the unemployed and those who had reported limitations to work. Individuals also at great risk were those who had not completed high school, those who were aged 45 to 64, or those whose unattached status remained unchanged over the six-year study period.

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:

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:

Using data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) this study examines the labour market experience of Canadians who hold a university diploma and who worked at least one month in a job requiring no more than a high school diploma between 1993 and 2001.