Analysis

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: This study uses administrative tax data and the Survey of Financial Security to explore trends in the number and characteristics of high-income Canadians, as well as their wealth and effective income tax rates, from 1982 to 2004. The paper uses a range of thresholds to delineate high income and emphasizes statistics on the top 5%, 1%, 0.1% and 0.01% of tax filers.

The study found that an individual income of $89,000 was needed to be counted among the top 5% if income recipients in 2004. A family income of $154,000 would place one in the top 5% of families. The growth in incomes at the high end has been quite rapid while incomes of the majority of the population remained stable. Compared with the U.S., Canada had significantly fewer high-income recipients in 2004, and their incomes were considerably less. Higher-income individuals tend to be middle aged married males that live in the larger urban centres. While women have made up a larger portion on the top 5% of tax filers since 1982, they have not made gains in the very highest income groups. High income Canadians have roughly the same share of total wealth as they do of total income.

High income Canadians, in line with an increasing share of total income, have been paying an increasing share of total personal income taxes. Their share of total income increased from 21% to 25% between 1992 and 2004 while their share of income taxes paid increased from 30% to 36%. At the same time their effective tax rate dropped from 29% to 27%. Thus despite lower tax rates the increase in incomes was large enough, when combined with the progressive tax system, to result in an increased share of total taxes paid by high income Canadians. There is considerable heterogeneity in effective tax rates at the individual level with some high income individuals facing an effective tax rate of over 45%, while some pay as little as 10%. The proportion of tax filers, across the income distribution, who pay zero taxes decreased between 1992 and 2004.

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: 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:

Discussions related to work hours are typically driven by cross-sectional studies. Much less is known about the longitudinal perspective and the persistence of long hours or periods of underemployment. The annual hours of employees are examined over a five-year period to determine what proportion experience variable work years and how their well-being is affected.

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: This study uses administrative tax data and the Survey of Financial Security to explore trends in the number and characteristics of high-income Canadians, as well as their wealth and effective income tax rates, from 1982 to 2004. The paper uses a range of thresholds to delineate high income and emphasizes statistics on the top 5%, 1%, 0.1% and 0.01% of tax filers.

The study found that an individual income of $89,000 was needed to be counted among the top 5% if income recipients in 2004. A family income of $154,000 would place one in the top 5% of families. The growth in incomes at the high end has been quite rapid while incomes of the majority of the population remained stable. Compared with the U.S., Canada had significantly fewer high-income recipients in 2004, and their incomes were considerably less. Higher-income individuals tend to be middle aged married males that live in the larger urban centres. While women have made up a larger portion on the top 5% of tax filers since 1982, they have not made gains in the very highest income groups. High income Canadians have roughly the same share of total wealth as they do of total income.

High income Canadians, in line with an increasing share of total income, have been paying an increasing share of total personal income taxes. Their share of total income increased from 21% to 25% between 1992 and 2004 while their share of income taxes paid increased from 30% to 36%. At the same time their effective tax rate dropped from 29% to 27%. Thus despite lower tax rates the increase in incomes was large enough, when combined with the progressive tax system, to result in an increased share of total taxes paid by high income Canadians. There is considerable heterogeneity in effective tax rates at the individual level with some high income individuals facing an effective tax rate of over 45%, while some pay as little as 10%. The proportion of tax filers, across the income distribution, who pay zero taxes decreased between 1992 and 2004.

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: 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:

Discussions related to work hours are typically driven by cross-sectional studies. Much less is known about the longitudinal perspective and the persistence of long hours or periods of underemployment. The annual hours of employees are examined over a five-year period to determine what proportion experience variable work years and how their well-being is affected.