Analysis

Description:

Parental union dissolution has been on the rise in Canada for the last 30 years and the nature and intensity of the fact that children stay with their parents after the family has broken up is now an important issue. Until now, most research on this topic has been done using cross-sectional data. However, the arrangements that separating parents make concerning the physical and financial care of their children are far from static, evolving in response to a variety of changes in the lives of both biological parents, including those occurring as a result of the new conjugal unions mothers and fathers enter into.

In this paper, we first determine how custody arrangements evolve through time and then examine changes in the frequency of contact that non-resident fathers maintain with their children. In both analyses, particular attention is given to the effect that a new union in the mother's or father's life has on the level of contact that children maintain with the non-custodial parent. We also examine how this varies depending on whether or not the new partner had children from a previous union, and on whether the mother's or father's new union is fertile. Prospective data from the two first waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) will enable us to compare levels of contact both before and after family recomposition.

Analyses are conducted using multinomial logit and probit models, and ordered logit and probit models according to the nature of the dependent variables. The observation of some of our dependent variables (e.g., the levels of contact between non-residing fathers and their child) is dependent on a selection process (e.g., that a father not residing with his child at Time 1 does not reside with the child at Time 2). In such cases, analyses are conducted using ordered probit models with selectivity. In all analyses, standard errors are adjusted to account for the sample design.

Description:

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) was not designed to be a longitudinal survey. However, given that respondent households typically remain in the sample for six consecutive months, it is possible to reconstruct six-month fragments of longitudinal data from the monthly records of household members. Such longitudinal data (altogether consisting of millions of person-months of individual- and family-level data) is useful for analyses of monthly labour market dynamics over relatively long periods of time, 20 years and more.

We make use of these data to estimate hazard functions describing transitions among the labour market states: self-employed, paid employee and not employed. Data on job tenure for the employed, and data on the date last worked for the not employed - together with the date of survey responses - permit the estimated models to include terms reflecting seasonality and macro-economic cycles, as well as the duration dependence of each type of transition. In addition, the LFS data permit spouse labour market activity and family composition variables to be included in the hazard models as time-varying covariates. The estimated hazard equations have been included in the LifePaths socio-economic microsimulation model. In this setting, the equations may be used to simulate lifetime employment activity from past, present and future birth cohorts. Cross-sectional simulation results have been used to validate these models by comparisons with census data from the period 1971 to 1996.

Description:

Controlling for differences in student populations, we examine the contribution of schools to provincial differences in the reading, math and science achievement of 15-year-olds in this paper. Using a semi-parametric decomposition technique developed by DiNardo, Fortin and Lemieux (1996) for differences in distributions, we find that school differences contribute to provincial differences in different parts of the achievement distribution and that the effect varies by province and by type of skill, even within province. For example, school differences account for about 32% of the difference in mean reading achievement between New Brunswick and Alberta, but reduce the difference in the proportion of students performing at the lowest reading proficiency level. By contrast, school differences account for 94% of the New Brunswick-Alberta gap in the 10th percentile of the science distribution. Our results demonstrate that school effectiveness studies that focus on the first moment of the achievement distribution miss potentially important impacts for specific students.

Description:

Linearization and the jack-knife method are widely used to estimate standard errors for the coefficients of linear regression models fit to multi-stage samples. With few primary sampling units (PSUs) or when a few PSUs have high leverage, linearization estimators can have large negative bias, while the jack-knife method has a correspondingly large positive bias. We characterize the design factors that produce large biases in these standard error estimators. In this technical paper, we propose an alternative estimator, bias reduced linearization (BRL), based on residuals adjusted to better approximate the covariance of the true errors.

When errors are independently and identically distributed (iid), the BRL estimator is unbiased. The BRL method applies to stratified samples with non-constant selection weights and to generalized linear models such as logistic regression. We also discuss BRL standard error estimators for generalized estimating equation models that explicitly model the dependence among observations from the same PSU in data from complex sample designs. Simulation study results show that BRL standard errors are combined with the Satterthwaite approximation to determine the reference distribution yield tests with Type I error rates near nominal values. We contrast our method with alternatives proposed by Kott (1994 and 1996) and Mancl and DeRouen (2001).

Description:

One of the most important advances brought about by life course and event history studies is the use of parallel or interdependent processes as explaining factors in transition rate models. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a causal approach to the study of interrelated family events. Various types of interdependent processes are described first, followed by two event history perspectives: the 'system' and 'causal' approaches. The authors assert that the causal approach is more appropriate from an analytical point of view as it provides a straightforward solution to simultaneity, cause-effect lags, and temporal shapes of effects. Based on comparative cross-national applications in West and East Germany, Canada, Latvia and the Netherlands, the usefulness of the causal approach is demonstrated by analysing two highly interdependent family processes: entry into marriage (for individuals who are in a consensual union) as the dependent process, and first pregnancy/childbirth as the explaining one. Both statistical and theoretical explanations are explored emphasizing the need for conceptual reasoning.

Description:

There is much interest in using data from longitudinal surveys to help understand life history processes such as education, employment, fertility, health and marriage. The analysis of data on the durations of spells or sojourns that individuals spend in certain states (e.g., employment, marriage) is a primary tool in studying such processes. This paper examines methods for analysing duration data that address important features associated with longitudinal surveys: the use of complex survey designs in heterogeneous populations; missing or inaccurate information about the timing of events; and the possibility of non-ignorable dropout or censoring mechanisms. Parametric and non-parametric techniques for estimation and for model checking are considered. Both new and existing methodology are proposed and applied to duration data from Canada's Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID).

Description:

A developmental trajectory describes the course of a behaviour over age or time. This technical paper provides an overview of a semi-parametric, group-based method for analysing developmental trajectories. This methodology provides an alternative to assuming a homogenous population of trajectories as is done in standard growth modelling.

Four capabilities are described: (1) the capability to identify, rather than assume, distinctive groups of trajectories; (2) the capability to estimate the proportion of the population following each such trajectory group; (3) the capability to relate group membership probability to individual characteristics and circumstances; and (4) the capability to use the group membership probabilities for various other purposes, such as creating profiles of group members.

In addition, two important extensions of the method are described: the capability to add time-varying covariates to trajectory models and the capability to estimate joint trajectory models of distinct but related behaviours. The former provides the statistical capacity for testing if a contemporary factor, such as an experimental intervention or a non-experimental event like pregnancy, deflects a pre-existing trajectory. The latter provides the capability to study the unfolding of distinct but related behaviours such as problematic childhood behaviour and adolescent drug abuse.

Description:

The attractiveness of the Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) rests on its close similarity to a normal experimental design. On the other hand, it is of limited applicability since it is not often the case that units are assigned to the treatment group on the basis of an observable (to the analyst) pre-program measure. Besides, it only allows identification of the mean impact on a very specific subpopulation. In this technical paper, we show that the RDD straightforwardly generalizes to the instances in which the units' eligibility is established on an observable pre-program measure with eligible units allowed to freely self-select into the program. This set-up also proves to be very convenient for building a specification test on conventional non-experimental estimators of the program mean impact. The data requirements are clearly described.

Description:

In 1961, the European Commission launched a harmonized qualitative survey program to the consumers and the heads of companies (industry, services, construction, retail trade, investments) that covers more than 40 countries today. These qualitative surveys are aimed at understanding the economic situation of these companies. Results are available a few days after the end of the reference period, well before the results of the quantitative surveys.

Although qualitative, these surveys have quickly become an essential tool of the cyclical diagnosis and of the short-term economic forecast. This product shows how these surveys are used by the European Commission, in particular by the Directorate-General for economic and financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) and the Statistical Office of the European Communities (EUROSTAT), to evaluate the economic situation of the Euro zone.

The first part of this product briefly presents the harmonized European business and consumer survey program. In the second part, we look at how DG ECFIN calculates a coincident indicator of the economic activity, using a dynamic factorial analysis of the questions of the survey in industry. This type of indicator makes it possible, in addition, to study the convergence of the economic cycles of the member states. The quantitative short-term indicators for the Euro zone are often criticized for the delay with which they are published. In the third part, we look at how EUROSTAT plans to publish flash estimates of the industrial product price index (IPPI) resulting from econometric models integrating the business survey series. Lastly, we show how these surveys can be used to forecast the gross domestic product (GDP) and to define proxies for some non-available key indicators (new orders in industry, etc.).

Description:

This project seeks to shed light not only on the degree to which individuals are stuck in the low-income range, but also on those who have sufficient opportunity to move into the upper part of the income distribution. It also seeks to compare patterns of mobility through the income distribution in North America and Europe, shedding light on the impact of different models of integration. Cross-National Equivalent File data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) for the United Kingdom, the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) for Germany, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) for the United States and the Survey of Labour Income Dynamics (SLID) for Canada offer a comparative analysis of the dynamics of household income during the 1990s, paying particular attention to both low- and high-income dynamics. Canadian administrative data drawn from income tax files are also used. These panel datasets range in length from six years (for the SLID) to almost 20 years (for the PSID and the Canadian administrative data). The analysis focuses on developments during the 1990s, but also explores the sensitivity of the results to changes in the length of the period analysed.

The analysis begins by offering a broad descriptive overview of the major characteristics and events (demographic versus labour market) that determine levels and changes in adjusted household incomes. Attention is paid to movements into and out of low- and high- income ranges. A number of definitions are used, incorporating absolute and relative notions of poverty. The sensitivity of the results to the use of various equivalence scales is examined. An overview offers a broad picture of the state of household income in each country and the relative roles of family structure, the labour market and welfare state in determining income mobility. The paper employs discrete time-hazard methods to model the dynamics of entry to and exit from both low and high income.

Both observed and unobserved heterogeneity are controlled for with the intention of highlighting differences in the determinants of the transition rates between the countries. This is done in a way that assesses the importance of the relative roles of family, market and state. Attention is also paid to important institutional changes, most notably the increasing integration of product and labour markets in North America and Europe.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: The infographic uses data from the integrated file of the Postsecondary Student Information System, the 2016 Census, the 2021 Census and the T1 Family File to compare the job quality of Indigenous graduates with a bachelor's degree with that of non-racialized and non-Indigenous graduates two years after graduation. Job quality indicators include employment income, unionization rate, and employer pension plan coverage rate.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: This infographic provides details about the number of graduates and median employment income two years after graduation for international postsecondary students, by educational qualification and field of study.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: This study examined the impact of federal business innovation and growth support (BIGS) programs on firm financial performance measured using revenue, profit and employment metrics. Using Statistics Canada’s Business Linkable File Environment data, the study observed the effects of BIGS on exporting versus non-exporting firms and Canadian- versus U.S.-owned firms from 2015 to 2020. Unlike previous studies that relied mainly on survey data, one significant aspect of this research was the use of a new dataset, enabling panel data structures and models to be employed. To assess the impact of BIGS and research and development spending on three interrelated measures of firm financial performance, the CDM (Crépon et al., 1998) framework was adopted.

Description: This article provides perspectives on the extent to which recent changes in gross domestic product per capita represent a departure from their long-term trend and discusses factors that have facilitated per capita growth in previous decades.

Description: Many seniors work past their mid-60s for various reasons. Some find it necessary to keep working because of inadequate retirement savings, mortgage payments, unforeseen expenses, or the responsibility to support children and other family members in Canada or abroad. Others choose to work to provide a sense of personal fulfillment, stay active and remain engaged. This article uses data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and examines the degree to which Canadian-born and immigrant seniors aged 65 to 74 worked by choice or necessity in 2022.

Description: Since Canada is a vast country with diverse job opportunities available in various locations, some provinces and territories may face challenges and opportunities in retaining and attracting young skilled talent. This article is the first to inform the issue by determining the share of youth who grew up in a certain province or territory and eventually obtained a postsecondary education but left to work in another province or territory. The article also looks at young skilled workers who entered a province or territory to work, as a share of that province or territory’s initial population of homegrown young skilled labour.

Description: This article provides an integrated summary of recent changes in output, consumer prices, employment, and household finances. It highlights changes in the economic data during the second half of 2023 and into the winter months. The article also examines how economic conditions have changed as borrowing costs have risen.

Description: The participation of women-owned businesses in exports is important for policies aiming to ensure that the benefits of international trade reach all groups. Women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada are as likely to export as those owned by men, and their export intensity (exports as a share of total sales) was not significantly different. This article examines factors related to the exporting success of women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada.

Description: Social connections and relationships are important, yet often overlooked, indicators of well-being. For immigrants, these networks are also important for integration. This study examines how immigrant women’s sociodemographic characteristics and life-course circumstances are associated with the size and composition of their personal networks and provides comparisons with Canadian-born women.

Description: This study applies small area estimation (SAE) and a new geographic concept called Self-contained Labor Area (SLA) to the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions (CSBC) with a focus on remote work opportunities in rural labor markets. Through SAE modelling, we estimate the proportions of businesses, classified by general industrial sector (service providers and goods producers), that would primarily offer remote work opportunities to their workforce.

Description: The current study uses the 2011 National Household Survey and the 2016 and 2021 Censuses to provide data on the number of Indigenous foster children in private households, foster child rates, and disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous foster care rates between 2011 and 2021. Subsequently, select sociodemographic characteristics of Indigenous children in foster care and household characteristics are explored using the 2021 Census.

Description: Oral health is a crucial component of overall health, influencing both physical and mental well-being. Yet, despite the important role that access to and use of oral health care services play in maintaining optimal oral health, substantial disparities remain in access to oral health care services across population groups in Canada. Using data from the 2022 Canadian Community Health Survey, this study examines the association of dental insurance with oral health care access and use in Canada while accounting for income and sociodemographic factors. It contributes to a baseline of oral health care disparities before the implementation of the Canadian Dental Care Plan.

Description:

This on-line product Insights on... is a newsletter from Statistics Canada highlighting trends in business and trade statistics. Using information from the latest Statistics Canada surveys, Insights on... provides factual analysis of emerging trends in Canadian industry, documents what's new in Canadian business, and shows how businesses are responding to the challenges and opportunities posed by new types of business practices - globalization, new technologies, increasingly competitive markets, uncompromising standards of product quality, etc.

Each edition of Insights on... will deal with one or two topics. Non-technical analysis and user-friendly graphs will provide a complete and balanced interpretation of the facts - quickly, clearly and concisely.

Description:

Travel Agencies in Canada enter the new millennium with many challenges. The gap that they must bridge is a possible erosion of both revenue and customers. The aviation industry has been imposing caps on commissions resulting in the requirement for agencies to sell more product to generate the same revenue. At the same time, selling more product could be more difficult as air carriers and hotels are increasingly offering more direct sales on the Internet. This web presence has enabled carriers and hotels to deliver their product bypassing the travel agencies in the supply chain. There is also increased competition from travel sales web-sites that attempt to attract the business that local travel agents once could have considered as their own. The paper will examine the nature of the challenges facing this service industry and the possible responses.

Description:

For several years, urban transit ridership in Canada has been declining. In the late 1990s, ridership began to stabilize but at a level well below the peaks reached in previous years. Many have postulated reasons for the decline, including the dominance of the automobile, changes in work locations and hours, increasing fares, decreasing subsidies and increasing suburbanization.

Using data from approximately 85 Canadian urban transit service providers, over a period of 8 years, this paper outlines the empirical results of analysis to measure factors that have affected urban transit ridership. Among the key goals of this project was the development of measures of fare elasticity.

Demographic, socio-economic and level of service variables were used in the research to explain changes in ridership. A variety of dummy variables was also used to account for structural differences.

The paper concludes with an examination of major Canadian cities that carry the majority of all commuters in the country.

Description:

Data from the Annual Survey of manufactures (ASM) is the prime source for this publication. The results of the 1997 survey are supplemented by data from sub-annual Statistics Canada surveys and major economic indicators.

Description:

The latest issue contains the article "Performance of the textile products industries. by Yasmin Sheikh. The business climate under which the manufacturing sector has been operating has evolved particularly in the last decade. Within manufacturing, certain industries have responded better than others to the challenge brought about by advancement in technology and increased globalization. Textile products was the fastest growing industry in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 1961 to 1987 compared to the overall economy, the manufacturing sector and closely related Primary Textile Industries. However, this industry's GDP declined sharply between 1988 and 1992. Except for 1996, the industry again experienced growth from 1993 onwards but its GDP growth index is well below its peak in 1987.

Results of the Annual Survey of Manufacturers show that manufacturing shipments of textile products in constant 1992 dollars peaked in 1988 and have since declined. This paper reviews data from this survey for the period 1988 to 1997 to underline the changes in the size, structure and performance of this industry and how it has fared in comparison to the Primary Textiles Industry. It also highlights current developments using results of the Monthly Survey of Manufacturers.

Description:

The latest issue contains the article "Refined petroleum and coal products industries" by Randall Sheldrick. The Canadian economy has been on the rise for almost a decade. But, the economy suffered a modest set back in 1998 due to the effects of the Asian economic and financial market crisis. While most manufacturing industries continued to expand, resource-based industries such as refined petroleum were hard hit by a slump in commodity prices.

This document presents an overview of the Refined Petroleum Products Industry. Most of the findings are based on the Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM). According to this survey the total value of shipments for the industry stalled at just over $21 billion in 1997. Despite the fact that the industry tends to be cyclical in nature, demand for refined petroleum products is expected to increase steadily into the next century.

Description:

The most recent issue contains the article "The beverage industries: two markets" by Peter Zylstra.This paper presents recent developments in the Beverage Industries. Following a brief introduction, the industry is analysed in terms of the four component sub-industries, which fall into two groups: soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. The two groups constitute different overall markets. The summary of recent developments is based on results of the 1997 Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM). Other sources are used to provide industry environment and economic backgroun.

Description:

This research paper series publishes research pertaining to the logging industry based on data from the Annual Survey of Logging and Forestry and other surveys dealing with related topics. The purpose of those research papers is to disseminate general information on this sector of the Canadian economy.

Description:

The importance attached to trade in the context of Canadian economic performance has grown in recent years, in part as a result of the free trade agreement with the United States and a new round of multilateral trade negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). As a consequence, questions about the relative strength of Canadian exports on foreign markets and import penetration in Canada have become increasingly topical. This text describes the nature of the adjustments applied to the United Nations data which have permitted the development of the World Trade Database.

Description:

In recent years, several economic forces have caused a change in the structure of the economy. Factors such as globalization and trade liberalization, among others, have intensified competition resulting in reallocation of resources among sectors in Canada. As business services, communications and wholesale trade emerged as engines of growth, it is generally perceived that the manufacturing industry has lost its significance. In contrast, a review of historical data on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) show that the share of manufacturing output was slightly up, from 17.2% in 1961 to 17.8% in 1998.

This paper reflects upon the importance of manufacturing in the economy and focuses on one industry - Primary Textiles. It concentrates on the evolution and significance of this industry within an overall changing economic structure using Statistics Canada's data base, CANSIM, results of the Annual Survey of Manufactures (1988 to 1997) along with current findings of the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing (1998 and 1999).