Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Input-output table in NAICS

Question:
I am working as a trade policy analyst at the OECD.

For a current research project I am looking for a Canadian input-output table (or supply and use tables) in the NAICS classification (3-digits or more) for a year before 2003. I would only need it for one year but I have been struggling to find these data in the NAICS classification.

Answer:
Would you be able to confirm the following:

“Does the individual need industry by product supply and use tables or industry by industry symmetric input-output tables?”

I should be able to get these on the EFT today or tomorrow, just let me know which they’d like!

Follow-up Response:
They would like - ‘’Industry by industry symmetric input-output tables would be ideal; in the NAICS classification (3-digits) for a year before 2003 (e.g. 2002).’’

Answer:
I’ve placed them on the EFT here: /MAD_DLI_IDD_DAM/Root/other_autres/1401_IO_ES/15-207-X - 2002 National Symmetric Input-Output Tables - L61 Level

Public Service Employee Survey (PSES)

Question:
We are getting more demand from profs and grad students for the PSES 2017, 2014 and 2011 cycle PUMFs.  Is there any chance we will see any of these cycles as PUMFs?  This PUMF question has probably been asked and answered, but if it could be re-asked, our researchers would very much appreciate it.

Answer:
We’ve received the following response from subject matter:

“PUMFs are only created when clients request and fund them.  That has not been the case for PSES for the last few cycles.  2008 was the most recent cycle when a PUMF was created.  I don’t expect that TBS (the PSES sponsor) is planning to order PUMFs for the 2011-2017 cycles.

The master files for all cycles are available in the RDCs, if that’s at all helpful for the researchers.”

Monday, April 29, 2019

Coroner and Medical Examiner Database

Question:
I read in the Daily today that the Canadian Coroner and Medical Examiner Database, 2006-2017 was released today (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190429/dq190429a-eng.htm). I clicked on the “Tables” button and there are 2 tables listed:

  • Coroner and medical examiner investigated deaths and mortality rates, by age group, 13-10-0386-01
  • Coroner and medical examiner investigated deaths and mortality rates, by sex, 13-10-0387-01

However, when you search for the same data through the “Results and documentation of surveys and statistical programs” page (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/surveys/5125), it is only showing one data file - Coroner and medical examiner investigated deaths and mortality rates, by sex (13-10-0387-01).

If you search for “coroner” from the main data page you get the 2 tables that are listed in the Daily.

Is there a reason that the table by age group does not show up in the survey page about the CCMED? Or has it just been missed?

Answer:
It was indeed missed! Subject matter has forwarded the information to the department responsible for updating the web content.

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

CNICS 2017 (Survey #5185)

Question:
A researcher is interested to learn more about access opportunities to the 2017 CNICS (#5185).   Are there any plans and timelines for deposit into the RDCs, or for master-file metadata to be ingested into the DLI Nesstar?

Answer:
The RDC team will be receiving the data on May 3rd, however it will take a while to stage the data – it should be available in the RDCs shortly thereafter, as well as through Nesstar.


Union Coverage

Question:
I’m trying to help a researcher who’s looking at trends in unionization by occupation, particularly sales-related activities. Sharanjit Uppal’s 2011 report included figures for sales and service occupations broken down by retail, wholesale, food and beverage, etc.

The LFS and the tables based on it now appear to combine retail and wholesale into a single category (see table 14-10-0319-01). Is there a source (aside from the RDC) that provides the current stats with the same occupational breakdown as Uppal’s report?

Answer:
We’ve received the following reply:

“The Labour force Survey no longer use that version of NOC classification. The client should send a request specifying the NOC 2016 codes and the NAICS 2012 codes along with the other characteristics they are requesting. Once I have all the specifications, I can provide a cost and time estimate to produce the data requested.”

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Cannabis Waste Statistics

Question:
A student is doing some research on cannabis waste from licensed producers in Canada and is looking for current statistics on the quantities of waste being generated at all licensed producer facilities in Canada.

The student contacted STC and was told that “The data you are requesting is not available on our website as a standard product” with the suggestion to contact the DlI contact.

The national Cannabis Tracking System (CTS) seems to account for waste so we are wondering if it might be something that could be obtained via custom tab from StatsCan…or would we have to contact Health Canada directly?

Answer:
We were passed along the following response from subject matter:

The data we’re collecting on a monthly basis is from municipal wastewater treatment plants (15 of them) in five cities (Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto, Halifax). The plants treat water from all sources: residential, commercial, and industrial. With respect to cannabis, we are analyzing wastewater samples (at the entry of the wastewater treatment plant) for cannabis metabolites. In other words, we are only looking at cannabis once it has been consumed by a person, since the intent is to measure cannabis consumption. In particular, we focused on the metabolite since we did not want to have consumption numbers “contaminated” by raw cannabis or unused product that was disposed of in the sewer system.

This data is being collected directly by Statistics Canada, with the assistance of participating cities and a laboratory. As of now, data are not being made available at the wastewater treatment plant level.

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

PCCF: Population centre and rural area classification size; value =0

Question:
I did a quick search in the DLI listserv archive because I vaguely remembered seeing this question before, and indeed I found that the question was asked twice… but I could not find the answer to it on the listserv, so I will ask it again!

In the Population centre and rural area classification size  of the PCCF, why are there many records coded 0 . This does not correspond to a valid value listed in the documentation (from 1 to 4 depending on rural area or size of the population centre).

Answer:
Here is an earlier answer from StatCan about this.  Please take a look to see if it answers your question?:

I have been provided with the following information from Subject Matter. As it is quite technical, I’ll be pasting it directly as I received it from them:
------------------------------------
The PCCF starts by trying to link postal codes to block faces, but if it can’t it then moves up and tries to link them to DissBs, then DAs. The Rep_Pt_Type variable has the info on what level of link was made.

PopCentres are built from Dissemination Blocks (DissB), not Dissemination Areas (DA). See the hierarchy chart…

http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/dict/geoint-eng.cfm

Thus, if the PCCF cannot link to a DissB for a particular postal code, and has to move up to the DA level, there is no way to link the postal code to a PopCentre. Many DAs overlap multiple PopCentres, so we can’t choose just one.

For the 125,163 records with a POP_CNTR_RA_SIZE_CLASS of 0, these all have a Rep_Pt_Type of 3, meaning they linked to a DA. So, there is no PopCentre data available for them.

That is the explanation for why the PCCF has 0 in the POP_CNTR_RA_SIZE_CLASS.
-------------------------------------

As the researcher is only looking at some of the records in the PCCF, depending on where these records (about 12,000) are, the possibility exists that the DAs they link to may or may not overlap PopCentres. With the Geographic Attribute File, we can create a correspondence between DAs and PopCentres, and test that correspondence with the researcher’s records.

If you wish to provide the researcher’s subset of PCCF records, we may be able to capture some useful PopCentre info. No promises, but this looks like a lead. Otherwise, the information provided by Subject Matter above is quite useful.

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Updated DLI Licencing Page

We are pleased to announced that we have updated our Licence page on the DLI website. We hope this will help answer any of your questions in regards to the new Open Data Licence. As a reminder, the only change that has occurred is that the PUMFs now fall under this Open Licence. All other DLI products and licences will remain the same.

Please visit: https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/dli/caselaw/license

Canadian Year Book 1991 - 2005 Missing

Question:
Where are the digital copies of the CYBs for 1991-2005?

For the record:
a) this is the landing page for the Canada Year Book https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/11-402-X
b) the URL to the historical collection on that page is wrong as are the notes - the historical collection actually includes CYBs between 1867 - 1990.  The URL and the notes states 1867-1967.
c) the link to the historical collection between 1867 - 1990 is this one https://www66.statcan.gc.ca/acyb_000-eng.htm
d) Where are the CYBs for 1991-2005?

Why is this important:
a) we are seeing the disappearance of GovDocs and the historical references to Canada's government records
b) these records are important because they are the few records we have that enable us to see the transformation of the nation across time. For example the Internet we have today is based on the telegraph and postal service we had way back when and oddly the network today resembles the one we have today geographically, and core periphery issues persist.  YOu can only know that if you have the data and information to support that. The CYB provides the data one needs to get a picture of priorities across time, who actors were, indicators, technologies, etc. We loose our collective knowledge if we do not have access to these.
c) Every year, I have an assignment where I have between 70 to 200 students looking at these documents, so that they may learn to look at some primary data, and they can begin to connect how infrastructure and the construction of nation are related.

Why am I concerned:
Our libraries are culling information, we not longer have a DSP, we falsely think Gov't archives its documents, but it does not, they barely get DOIs, or ISBNs on government publications, we are mixing gov docs with general collections in research libraries thus loosing sight of these records and then claiming no one accesses them, and we no longer keep the documents with the maps or other important documents related to the nation state.  We are concerned with a lack of knowledge transfer and fake news while we key reference documents and records disappear and our research libraries turn into social lunch spaces as we think that all is now digital but we do not preserve even the digital! 

Answer:
I’ve reached out to InfoStats for this one and have received the following:

“The Canada Year Book historical collection covers the years 1867 to 1968, 1973 to 1981, 1985, 1988, 1991. Then, the 2006 to 2012 versions are available online. There was a project to digitize the missing Year Books between 1969 and 2005, but we were not able to get clearance for the photography copyrights for these years.

**Paper copy are available at the Statistics Canada Library. Please note that Inter-library loan may be possible Click here for more information on this program. Note that the Statistics Canada library will only accept requests submitted through another library.”



Monday, April 15, 2019

Question about Publicizing Data Visualizations

Question:
 I'm practicing my STATA coding skills and I was wondering,

-          would I be violating any regulations if I were to graph any interesting associations and post the graphs on social media?

For example, if I create graphs using the Canadian Community Health Survey PUMF and post the graphs on my social media, would I be breaching any of the policies in the Data use restrictions?

Please let me know as I think it would be interesting to post a few data visualization series across my social media profiles.

Answer:
As long as the researcher is citing Statistics Canada, it shouldn’t be a problem!

Friday, April 12, 2019

Field Crop Microdata

Question:
I have a researcher hoping to work with microdata from the Field Crop Reporting Series. (She’s interested specifically in the data behind this table: 32-10-0359-01 / https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3210035901) I can’t find any indication that microdata is available for the FCRS, but thought I would check.

Answer:
I’ve received the following response from subject matter:

“The Crop Reporting Unit currently publishes data at the provincial level.  The one exception is small area data which is released once a year at the Census Agricultural Level (CAR), and can be found in table  32-10-0002.  Aside from this there is no lower level data available. I don’t believe that data is in going to be made generally available through the RDCs at this point.  That said if they have a compelling research project that supports GoC priorities, and particularly ones which might support a streamlining of STC operations we may be able to engineer a collaboration.  This is particularly the case if the research is being carried out at the University of Guelph or one of its affiliates.”  

Thursday, April 11, 2019

GSS - variables over time

Question:
Is there a guide or spreadsheet showing which variables are included in a GSS cycle over time? I have a researcher working with Cycle 26, Caregiving and Care Receiving (2012) and would like to see a comparison of what variables are in each cycle without having to go through each survey individually.

Answer:
As I have not seen an answer to this, I thought I'd draw your  attention to a resource that the students in my data librarianship course at U of T created a few years ago.

The following two spreadsheets contain concordances of a sort. One covers the victimization surveys in detail(Cycles 3, 8, 13, 18, 23, and 28) and is available to download here:  
https://hdl.handle.net/10864/11541 . The other is a general concordance to GSS variables for Cycles 1-26. It is not complete and was meant to be something to which subsequent classes would contribute but that did not happen for a variety of reasons I'd rather not iscuss. It is available here: https://hdl.handle.net/10864/10937

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

New files on Statistics Canada Nesstar

We are pleased to inform you that the following are now available on the Statistics Canada Nesstar WebView site.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) March 2019 - PUMF
Survey of Emergency Preparedness and Resilience in Canada (SEPR) 2014

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Ontario Green Energy Act

Question:
I have a researcher who is working on the Ontario Green Energy Act (2009).

He is looking for data (as detailled as possible) about : 

-          Investments in the green/renewable economy in Ontario since 2009
-          Number of jobs in the green/renewable economy in Ontario since 2009

I expected to find a lot of information about this but it is not the case at all! I must say I am not very familiar with ontarian sources. 

I have searched Statistics Canada website and DLI. All I could find is this table, which does not show data for the provinces : https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=3610041101

Would a custom table be an option? Did I missed anything else?

I have searched on Ontario's government websites (ontario.ca, Ministry of Energy, open data catalogue…) . I found a couple of reports like the Long-term Energy plan or the Auditor General report but they only give estimate or vague numbers without any details (examples: "more than 20 000 jobs", "tens of thousands of jobs").

Answer:
Response from Subject Matter:
“Unfortunately right now we don’t have any provincial level data but we are working on it. Provincial Environmental and Clean Technology Products Economic Account (ECTPEA) should be released sometime in Winter 2020 and it would have information on the number of ECTPEA jobs in Ontario, and while there would not be any pure investment figures, they could look at the time series of GDP growth for Ontario and determine whether investments undertaken by the provincial government are having an impact on output.


They could also contact environment to talk to them about the Survey of Environmental Goods and Services, the 2017 release discusses jobs within the companies surveyed, but it is a subset of what is found in ECTPEA, but it would be something available now and they have a provincial component.”

Parental Income, Current Income and Education Microdata

Question:
I am helping a researcher who is looking for “microdata (longitudinal if possible), but a snapshot would suffice as long as the dataset had information pertaining to individuals parental income class, their own education and their own current income class. I have been able to find data that details individuals wealth level and past education, I'm just having trouble finding data on past family income.”

In response, I have recommended the Survey of Financial Security, SLID (used to be longitudinal back in the 1990’s but isn’t anymore), Census, and LFS as these provide a snapshot but not the longitudinal /parental income aspect. I have also suggested the National Centre for Education Statistics https://nces.ed.gov/datalab/index.aspx – there are some table viewing options for accessing longitudinal statistics and links/ email contacts to request survey data. Would love to know if anyone has experience with any of these datasets.

Am hoping for recommendations in terms of variable / proxy for parental income.

Answer:
We’ve received the following response from subject matter:

“PSIS data linked to T1FF (available in RDCs) includes data on individuals program of study and graduation on the PSIS side, and on the tax side, individual and family income information is also available for prior years.  There are a few caveats, which may or may not be significant limiting factors depending on what the researcher actually wants to do.  

1.       PSIS data only includes information for those who were attending a public postsecondary institution between the years of 2009 and 2016 (earlier years are available for the Maritime provinces and Newfoundland only).  There are also data gaps during those years for certain jurisdictions/institutions. 

2.       Tax information for the family of a student is only available where it was possible to make a family link between individuals – which is not the case for everyone. 

3.       The most recent year of tax information available is currently 2016, meaning that the number of years of post-graduation income information available is limited.

4.       I’m not sure if going to the RDC is an option for this researcher.”

Friday, April 5, 2019

New Release: LFS March 2019

We are pleased to inform you that the following product is now available.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) – March 2019

This public use microdata file contains non-aggregated data for a wide variety of variables collected from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The LFS collects monthly information on the labour market activities of Canada's working age population. This product is for users who prefer to do their own analysis by focusing on specific subgroups in the population or by cross-classifying variables that are not in our catalogued products. The Labour Force Survey estimates are based on a sample, and are therefore subject to sampling variability. Estimates for smaller geographic areas, industries, occupations or cross tabulations will have more variability. For an explanation of sampling variability of estimates, and how to use standard errors to assess this variability, consult the Data Quality section in the Guide to the Labour Force Survey.

EFT: /MAD_PUMF_FMGD_DAM/Root/3701_LFS_EPA/1976-2019/data/micro2019/micro2019-03.zip

Nesstar access will be available on Monday, April 8th.

Quarterly GDP Data for Alberta

Question:
I have a student looking for quarterly GDP for Alberta from 1999 to 2017. I have been able to find annual rates (from Open Data Alberta) and quarterly national data, but I seem to be coming up completely blank on quarterly provincial. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Answer:
We’ve received the following response from subject matter:
“The national accounts does not produce quarterly provincial GDP estimates.”

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Trade Data - SK exports

Question:
I am looking for the annual total volume (quantity) of exports (all products so all HS codes) originating from Saskatchewan broken down by destination (country). I am hoping to include as many years as possible, for this project the more data that is available the better, i.e., as far back as possible.

Answer:
We've received the following from subject matter:

"If they need data broken down by HS codes, the most efficient way to proceed is by custom tabulation. I could run a table for exports of all HS codes by Country of Destination, with Saskatchewan selected as the Province of Origin. Such data is available all the way back to 1988 and is available on a cost-recovery basis at $416.35 per bundle of 5 years of data. If they’re interested, I’d need to know which level of HS detail they need. If they need very detailed data (i.e. at the HS8 level), it might not fit in a single Excel table.

If they need data but have no funds, the only “alternative” I can think of is table 12-10-0119-01 (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1210011901), which has data at the provincial level, but only for principal trading partners (top 25 or so) and under the North American Product Classification System (NAPCS) instead of the Harmonized System. The NAPCS uses broader product categories than the HS and can be more efficient when comparing different categories of products. The data in there is also on a monthly frequency so they would need to aggregate some data themselves."

National Graduates Survey 2015

Question:
May I please have an update for the release of the PUMF of the 2015 NGS? Tentative release dates page just says 2019. Researcher is inquiring.

Answer:
I’ve received the following reply from subject matter:
“Unfortunately, we do not even have dates for the initial data release (current thinking is near the end of this year), but the PUMF could be up to a year after that.  We hope to have a preliminary calendar of releases for this fiscal year by the end of this month.”