Canadian Business Patterns

Question

In Canadian Business Patterns 2005 the Alberta CSD's of Bassano (pop. 1,320); Champion (pop. 355); and Lomond (pop. 171) are listed but the NAICS data lists zero industries in all categories. There may not be many industries in these communities but we know for sure there are a few, such as eateries, gas stations and other service industries. Any explanation why they don't appear? Could it be random rounding downwards - although we have found cells with N's of 1, 4 etc. for other small Alberta CSD's. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer

There could be many factors that would contribute to the businesses not being on the CBP. The population of the CBP has only establishments that report over 30,000 in GST or are federally/provincially incorporated or they have a payroll account registered with CRA. Please also inform the user of the definition of establishments. It could be that these business are locations and do report their financial reporting to an other establishment in a different area, therefore would not be counted. Finally it depends on
the address that we have on base for these business, we define the geo in which they belong to by postal code, could the postal codes of some of these areas cross over into neighbouring towns? If this is the case I believe the PCCF File codes the CSD to the area with the most dwellings. Definitions and Concepts for the CBP would address some of these points. As well to answer the clients question in regards to rounding, we do any rounding on the CBP.

Questions about 1981 CSD Maps on DLI ftp site

Question

I've questions about the three versions of census subdivision digital boundary files available on the DLI ftp site in directory geography/1981/arcinfo - csd1981_dbf.zip, csd_sdr81.zip, and csd_sdr1981.zip (as listed on the Spatial Product Inventory found in geography/1981/document).

Having extracted them out to disk, I see that the ArcInfo interchange files have different dates (12/16/1998, 11/17/1998, and 9/16/1999 respectively).

When I load the files into ArcMap, however (after converting with ArcToolbox), I don't see any apparent differences.

Would someone with more map experience point out to me what I should be looking for and/or at to tell this? Is there one version of this file that should be considered authoritative? What are the different versions used for?

Answer

There are no differences in the files other than the names of some of the columns and the number of columns are different. Check the table for each of the files and you will see the difference.

Historical P/E Ratio for Index

Question

I have a faculty member looking for historical P/E Ratio data for the S&P/TSX Composite Index. I could find the current ratio on both the TSX site and on Datastream, but I could not find any historical data. He'd like to get it for as far back as he can go.

Answer

It is available in Datastream from 1973 in all frequency. If he wants daily or weekly, you need to retrieve several times by breaking the period in smaller chucks since Excel won't handle it. But if he wants monthly, it is easier.

Marketing activities of firms

Question

A student would like to know the percentage of revenue that is spent for marketing in most of the companies that sell computer equipment and printers, etc. such as Future Shop, Office Depot, Compusmart, etc.

I can find sales and revenue information, but not expenditure by the companies.

Answer

Presuming you are after Canadian information, and information at an industry level (no named companies) for both public and private companies, try Performance Plus:
http://sme.ic.gc.ca

KLEMS (Capital, Labour, Energy, Materials and Services)

Question

A UBC researcher has been using the KLEMS CD-ROM and wonders whether the data for 2004 are available yet?

Answer

KLEMS is not a standard product and may not be updated on a regular basis. We receive this as an "experimental database" from the author division and this is the reason we have members sign an additional spcial licence agreement.

CANSIM (CHASS version from U of T) and the Statistics Canada web interface

Question

When I go to CHASS' CANSIM II homepage and click on:

Browse CANSIM II by subjects ---- Trade ---- Retail trade

I get a listing of 24 tables.

When I browse the same subject list on Statistics Canada's CANSIM webpage (or even on the CANSIM E-Stat page) I get 30 tables.

Why?

Answer

All the tables that you may not see when browsing by subject are there and can be accessed by numbers.

This is how it works:

Each Tuesday CHASS receives all new and updated tables and series from Statcan. (Not long ago we ran a full database scan to compare all series and tables at CHASS and at Statcan, to be sure that we do not miss any data.) . New tables (with all their series) are loaded, and table listings are accordingly updated. All new series that belong to existing tables are also loaded. All updated series are handled by each individual record being updated as per the latest data.

However, when tables are added to the database, Statcan does not send us new themes/subjects matrix and that's where the discrepancy creeps in. So, all data are there, and keyword searches work, but themes/subjects listings may start diverging. In some cases it is annoying, in others it was sometimes equally annoying even when we had fully compatible themes/subjects listings. I recall when earlier this year I was running a seminar in New Delhi on large database organization for health care indicators, and used - as an example - Cansim by subject, extracting various series based on their health related subjects - and how frustrating an exercise it was, with classifications being sometimes totally wacky. Keyword searches were much more reliable and produces many more series related to what I was looking for, even though the same "subjects" formally existed.

Having said that, there is no excuse for the discrepancy, and we must work with Statistics Canada to resolve the issue. Ideally, we should be getting updated concordance tables with every new table addition/deletion or change in subject classification. Realistically, such an update once a month would probably suffice.

Employment by NOC

Question

I am trying to find some census/employment data. I have tried E-stat, and I can almost get what I need, but not quite. Ideally, what I would like is the number of people employed in the following NOC codes for Canada, Ontario and if possible for specific regions/cma's/subdivisions within Ontario. Through e-stat, I have found data for Canada and Ontario for SOC E1, which I don't think is quite the same.

College and Other Vocational Instructors 4131
Secondary School Teachers 4141
Elementary School and Kindergarten Teachers 4142

Answer

I have found a standard table on the Census Internet site that has the breakdown for the NOC-S 2001 variable, which I am including below.

http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/standard/themes/RetrieveProductTable.cfm?
Temporal=2001&PID=60937&APATH=7&GID=431515&METH=1&PTYPE=55496&THEME=46&FOCUS
=0&AID=0&PLACENAME=0&PROVINCE=0&SEARCH=0&GC=99&GK=NA&VID=1625&FL=O&RL=0&FREE=0

I am also including a link below to the 2001 Census Dictionary for the definition on Occupation (based on the 2001 National Occupational Classification for Statistics [NOC-S 2001])

http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/Products/Reference/dict/pop090.htm

I have extracted a paragraph below from the definition that will explain the difference between the HRDC NOC codes and Statistics Canada's NOC-S 2001 codes.

Human Resources Development Canada classifies occupation data according to the National Occupational Classification (NOC). This classification has a similar structure to that of the 2001 National Occupational Classification for Statistics (NOC-S 2001). The two classifications have 520 unit groups, 140 minor groups and 10 broad categories in common. However, there are 47 major groups in the NOC-S 2001 and 26 major groups in the NOC. Occupation data from the 2001 Census are available according to both the NOC-S 2001 and the NOC structures.

As the codes your client are citing are from the NOC codes I have provided the codes below for the National Occupational Classification for Statistics.

E121 College and other vocational instructors
E131 Secondary school teachers
E132 Elementary school and kindergarten teachers

2001 Census PUMF Individuals File - Needs Updating

An error has been detected in the coding of the variable INCSTP which is contained in the 2001 Census PUMF Individuals File (95M0016XCB – Re-issued on August 24). The way the variable is currently coded results in a bias. Following a meeting with management on October 17, it was decided to re-issue the file. We will be in a better position to inform you of the re-issue date once we finalize the analysis on the Households and Housing File. We are scheduled to present the content of the Households and Housing File to the Microdata Release Committee on November 21, 2005.

Please notify your users of this finding as soon as possible. Details of the re-issue of the Individuals File as well as release dates for the Families File and the Households and Housing File will be forwarded to you as they become available.

Thank you.

Postpartum Depression

Question

Does anyone know where I can find statistics on postpartum depression in Canada?

Answer

For sure in the microdata (and basic frequencies) for Items 1,2,3, as postpartum; item 4 as post-partum

1. National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth: Cycle 2 (Primary File)
2. National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth: Cycle 1 Release 1 (Primary File)
3. National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth: Cycle 1 Release 2 (Primary File)
4. National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth: Cycle 3 (Primary File)

Census 1971 - microdata public files

Question

One of the researchers at the UdeMoncton is working with the public files from the census 1971, namely indiv1971_prov. He has reasons to believe that even though the code (three empty spaces) indicates that the person leaves outside of Montreal, in fact in should include the CMR of Montreal. So, the question is : does this file include the CMR of Montreal or does it not?

Answers and Responses

1. Page 2.3.2 of the codebook for the 1971 census pumfs says Sample units on the Quebec tape, residing in Montreal are not the same as those on the Montreal tape. On the Quebec tape residents from Montreal cannot however be recognized as such. The same holds true for Ontario, Toronto sample units.

As I interpret this, the sample of Quebec (including Montreal) and the sample of Montreal (excluding the remainder of Quebec) were drawn independently. The Quebec sample does include Montreal residents, but the CMA variable remains blank for those respondents, so they are not identified as living in Montreal, just somewhere in Quebec. Put another way, the CMA variable, to all intents and purposes, is not used at all in the province-level file, regardless of whether the respondent lives in Montreal or Toronto, or not. The CMA variable is only actually coded in the Montreal & Toronto sample file.

2. You fill find a file that you should be using from the DLI FTP for the CMA of Montreal:
Directory name: Census/1971/Pumf71, File name: indiv71_cma.zip

DMTI Data - 2005

I am starting to load the new DMTI data for this year. I received it on DVDs this year which will mean the procedure for download is going to be a bit different. I have now loaded all the CanMap Routelogistics data onto the server. You will notice, for one, that the edition naming is now different. The current edition is now named V2005.3. Secondly, you will notice that you will not be required to "install" the data. You will simply have to download a provincial zipped file for each province you want and unzip the data. As an example. If you want the CanMap routelogistics data for Ontario, you will need to navigate, on the server, to the following location:
prod.library.utoronto.ca/RouteLog/Arcview/V2005.3/
once in this folder you can download the Ontario files from the ON.zip file and so on. Does anyone require the mapinfo files?
I will update the list as more data is added to the server.

NEW: All DMTI data is now on the server (except the SSV data) in both Shapefile and Mapinfo formats.

1981 to 2001 census of population data tabulated within constant boundaries

I have assembled a set of data from the Census of Population from 1981 to 2001, tabulated for Census Divisions and Census Consolidated Subdivisions, within constant boundaries.

I would like to offer it to academic colleagues via the DLI = Data Liberation Initiative.

The present version is a Beta2 test version and I need some feedback on its usefulness before I proceed.

Thus, if you or your colleagues would be interested in reviewing this database -- or better yet, using these data for academic papers, I would encourage you to ask your DLI librarian (in your university library) to obtain a copy from the DLI gurus in Statistics Canada {Michael Sivyer -- Sivyer@statcan.ca 613-951-6185 or Andre.Blondin@statcan.ca 613-951-6322}

Manitoba GDP - Monthly

Question

I have a student requesting _monthly_ GDP for Manitoba from 1990 to 2004. I thought that would be easy - but the closest I can come is quarterly.

Is monthly available?

Answer

Statistics Canada only produces Provincial GDP annually.

Here is the link to the quarterly e-pub that the Manitoba Ministry of Finance produces using our data and their forecasts.

http://www.gov.mb.ca/iedm/invest/busfacts/economy/ec_outlook.html

Also find an economic highlights pdf that the Ministry of Finance (Manitoba) creates that may be helpful in addressing your student's request.

http://www.gov.mb.ca/finance/reports/pdf/highlights.pdf