Place of Work Statistics

Question

I have a question from a team of graduate students and faculty member. These patrons are looking to do some modelling based on place of work information (DA level); however, rather than household-based statistics, they're hoping for something which is industry-based. That is, they do not want to know how many people who live in DA1 work in retail vs. manufacturing occupations, but what the concentration of retail companies or manufacturing companies is in DA1 (for example). Similarly, they don't care how many residents of DA2 take the bus to work, but are interested in how many people who work in DA2 took the bus to get there.

I have explained to them that the Census is household based, but they wanted to know if anyone might know of another way of obtaining information about DAs from the perspective of businesses (up to and including custom files). In fact, I think they want to try to link to link DAs if they can (ie, connect commuters from their home DAs to their work DAs). As you can see from the list of variables they require, about half of them are easily answered by the profile series. Alas it is the latter half which is problematic (at least as the team would like it).

Total Population
Total Private Dwellings
Total Private Dwellings occupied by usual residents
Land Area (km²)
Total Population Density/km²
Total Number of Households
Average Household Size (HH)
Median HH Income ($)
Auto Ownership (Average Autos per HH)
Total Employment
Total Employment by Industry
Retail Trade Employment
Non-Retail Trade Employment
Place of Work (POW) Status
Mode of transportation to work
Average Trip Length for Home Based Work (HBW) Trip
Average Trip Length for Home Based Non-Work (HBNW) Trip
Average Trip Length for Non-Home Based (NHB) Trip

Does anyone have any suggestions? Is this something that could even be requested as a custom table (or tables)? To add to the interesting situation, this team is also working with the RDC, so there are questions floating around about whether or not the RDC might be able to get this dream file in the long run.

Thank you for any help you can provide (even if it's verifying that it is not possible to get the data in the form they'd like).

Answer

I have received a description of a DA level place of work based custom product that could be produced for the students. I will send you the description of the product off-list and the contact details of an Account-Executive in Halifax who is available to discuss this product with you or the students.