Analysis

A brief look at family incomes in 1999 and changes since 1990.

A brief look at family incomes in 1999 and changes since 1990.

The phenomenon of consolidation, characterized by mergers, acquisitions and alliances, is an excellent means of responding to globalization, and constitutes an increasingly common way for companies to position themselves on the global chessboard.

Using survey data, this paper investigates problems that firms in the Canadian manufacturing sector face in their decision to adopt advanced technology. The data show that while the use of advanced technology is relatively important (users account for over 80% of all shipments), it is not widespread among firms (users represent only about one-third of all establishments). One explanation lies in the fact that while advanced technologies provide a wide range of benefits, firms also face a series of problems that impede them from adopting advanced technology. These impediments fall into five groups: cost-related, institution-related, labour-related, organization-related, and information-related.

While it might be expected that impediments would be higher for non-users than users of technologies, the opposite occurs. We posit that the reason for this is that innovation involves a learning process. Innovators and technology users face problems that they have to solve and the more innovative firms have greater problems. We test this by examining the factors that are related to whether a firm reports that it faced impediments. Our multivariate analysis reveals that impediments are reported more frequently among technology users than non-users; and more frequently among innovating firms than non-innovating ones. We conclude that the information on impediments in technology and other related surveys (innovation) should not be interpreted as impenetrable barriers that prevent technology adoption. Rather, these surveys indicate areas where successful firms face and solve problems.

This paper extends earlier work by updating the structure and policy parameters of payroll taxes in Canada. Drawing from a newly available dataset, it also reports trends on the level, growth and role of each component of these taxes in recent years. Finally, it compares Canadian payroll taxes to those of the world's leading developed countries. The following highlights the main findings.

Payroll taxes in Canada have grown considerably since the early 1980s, constituting an increasingly important source of revenues for both the federal and provincial governments. However, the rapid expansion observed in earlier years has in large part slowed down in the early 1990s. Payroll tax revenues collected from employees and employers in the country have stabilized at around 5.7% of GDP or 14.0% of total federal and provincial government revenues since 1992; the effective total payroll tax rate has levelled off at around $12.20 for every $100 of wages and salaries since 1994.

The structure, level, growth, and role of each component of payroll taxes vary considerably from one province to another. Yet, EI premiums have remarkably been the largest component of these taxes in every province in both the 1980s and the 1990s, regardless of whether there are provincial payroll taxes; rising EI premiums have also consistently been the leading contributor to the expansion of total payroll taxes during this period.

Despite rapid growth in the 1980s and early 1990s, Canadian payroll taxes remain one of the lowest in the world's major developed economies. According to data compiled by the OECD, total payroll tax revenues in Canada amounted to 6.0% of GDP in 1996 --- that is 14% lower than that of the United States (at 7.0% of GDP); the lowest in the G7 nations; and the 9th lowest among the 29 OECD member states.

This study investigates in the relationship between socio-economic characteristics of the population and the rate at which different groups of workers take training, using the Adult Education and Training Survey.

This report examines the results of the 1999 round of the Workplace and Employee Survey on the role that human resource practices play in facilitating workplace change. It focusses on practices such as workplace training, variable pay and employee involvement (job rotation, cross-training and teamwork), their association with change and whom they impact.

This paper offers a Canadian viewpoint of globalization by presenting the concepts and main trends of foreign direct investment issues.

This article describes and evaluates a procedure for imputing missing values for a relatively complex data structure when the data are missing at random. The imputations are obtained by fitting a sequence of regression models and drawing values from the corresponding predictive distributions. The types of regression models used are linear, logistic, Poisson, generalized logit or a mixture of these depending on the type of variable being imputed. Two additional common features in the imputation process are incorporated: restriction to a relevant subpopulation for some variables and logical bounds or constraints for the imputed values. The restrictions involve subsetting the sample individuals that satisfy certain criteria while fitting the regression models. The bounds involve drawing values from a truncated predictive distribution. The development of this method was partly motivated by the analysis of two data sets which are used as illustrations. The sequential regression procedure is applied to perform multiple imputation analysis for the two applied problems. The sampling properties of inferences from multiply imputed data sets created using the sequential regression method are evaluated through simulated data sets.

In 2001, the INSEE conducted a survey to better understand the homeless population. Since there was no survey frame to allow direct access to homeless persons, the survey principle involved sampling the services they received and questioning the individuals who used those services. Weighting the individual input to the survey proved difficult because a single individual could receive several services within the designated reference period. This article shows how it is possible to apply the weight sharing method to resolve this problem. In this type of survey, a single variable can produce several parameters of interest corresponding to populations varying with time. A set of weights corresponds to each definition of parameters. The article focuses, in particular, on "an average day" and "an average week" weight calculation. Information is also provided on the use data to be collected and the nonresponse adjustment.

A brief look at family incomes in 1999 and changes since 1990.

A brief look at family incomes in 1999 and changes since 1990.

The phenomenon of consolidation, characterized by mergers, acquisitions and alliances, is an excellent means of responding to globalization, and constitutes an increasingly common way for companies to position themselves on the global chessboard.

Using survey data, this paper investigates problems that firms in the Canadian manufacturing sector face in their decision to adopt advanced technology. The data show that while the use of advanced technology is relatively important (users account for over 80% of all shipments), it is not widespread among firms (users represent only about one-third of all establishments). One explanation lies in the fact that while advanced technologies provide a wide range of benefits, firms also face a series of problems that impede them from adopting advanced technology. These impediments fall into five groups: cost-related, institution-related, labour-related, organization-related, and information-related.

While it might be expected that impediments would be higher for non-users than users of technologies, the opposite occurs. We posit that the reason for this is that innovation involves a learning process. Innovators and technology users face problems that they have to solve and the more innovative firms have greater problems. We test this by examining the factors that are related to whether a firm reports that it faced impediments. Our multivariate analysis reveals that impediments are reported more frequently among technology users than non-users; and more frequently among innovating firms than non-innovating ones. We conclude that the information on impediments in technology and other related surveys (innovation) should not be interpreted as impenetrable barriers that prevent technology adoption. Rather, these surveys indicate areas where successful firms face and solve problems.

This paper extends earlier work by updating the structure and policy parameters of payroll taxes in Canada. Drawing from a newly available dataset, it also reports trends on the level, growth and role of each component of these taxes in recent years. Finally, it compares Canadian payroll taxes to those of the world's leading developed countries. The following highlights the main findings.

Payroll taxes in Canada have grown considerably since the early 1980s, constituting an increasingly important source of revenues for both the federal and provincial governments. However, the rapid expansion observed in earlier years has in large part slowed down in the early 1990s. Payroll tax revenues collected from employees and employers in the country have stabilized at around 5.7% of GDP or 14.0% of total federal and provincial government revenues since 1992; the effective total payroll tax rate has levelled off at around $12.20 for every $100 of wages and salaries since 1994.

The structure, level, growth, and role of each component of payroll taxes vary considerably from one province to another. Yet, EI premiums have remarkably been the largest component of these taxes in every province in both the 1980s and the 1990s, regardless of whether there are provincial payroll taxes; rising EI premiums have also consistently been the leading contributor to the expansion of total payroll taxes during this period.

Despite rapid growth in the 1980s and early 1990s, Canadian payroll taxes remain one of the lowest in the world's major developed economies. According to data compiled by the OECD, total payroll tax revenues in Canada amounted to 6.0% of GDP in 1996 --- that is 14% lower than that of the United States (at 7.0% of GDP); the lowest in the G7 nations; and the 9th lowest among the 29 OECD member states.

This study investigates in the relationship between socio-economic characteristics of the population and the rate at which different groups of workers take training, using the Adult Education and Training Survey.

This report examines the results of the 1999 round of the Workplace and Employee Survey on the role that human resource practices play in facilitating workplace change. It focusses on practices such as workplace training, variable pay and employee involvement (job rotation, cross-training and teamwork), their association with change and whom they impact.

This paper offers a Canadian viewpoint of globalization by presenting the concepts and main trends of foreign direct investment issues.

This article describes and evaluates a procedure for imputing missing values for a relatively complex data structure when the data are missing at random. The imputations are obtained by fitting a sequence of regression models and drawing values from the corresponding predictive distributions. The types of regression models used are linear, logistic, Poisson, generalized logit or a mixture of these depending on the type of variable being imputed. Two additional common features in the imputation process are incorporated: restriction to a relevant subpopulation for some variables and logical bounds or constraints for the imputed values. The restrictions involve subsetting the sample individuals that satisfy certain criteria while fitting the regression models. The bounds involve drawing values from a truncated predictive distribution. The development of this method was partly motivated by the analysis of two data sets which are used as illustrations. The sequential regression procedure is applied to perform multiple imputation analysis for the two applied problems. The sampling properties of inferences from multiply imputed data sets created using the sequential regression method are evaluated through simulated data sets.

In 2001, the INSEE conducted a survey to better understand the homeless population. Since there was no survey frame to allow direct access to homeless persons, the survey principle involved sampling the services they received and questioning the individuals who used those services. Weighting the individual input to the survey proved difficult because a single individual could receive several services within the designated reference period. This article shows how it is possible to apply the weight sharing method to resolve this problem. In this type of survey, a single variable can produce several parameters of interest corresponding to populations varying with time. A set of weights corresponds to each definition of parameters. The article focuses, in particular, on "an average day" and "an average week" weight calculation. Information is also provided on the use data to be collected and the nonresponse adjustment.