Microdata on Income and Educational Attainment

Question

Is it possible to obtain microdata on Income and Educational Attainment at a more granular level than CMAs, without going via the RDCs? I realize that Income is a really sensitive variable in geographic terms, and I’ve looked at the NHS files in Nesstar and some other CANSIM tables, but haven’t found anything below CMAs in either place.

Would the NHS pumf (or a different survey file) enable drilling down to smaller geographic units for either of these variables?

Also, can you confirm whether this *would* be possible via the RDC, for either variable?

Answer

If the client would only like Income data then CT level data would be available for download through the 2011 NHS Profile in either CSV or IVT format. If, however, the client would like both Income and Education data crossed together then this data would only be available on a custom data basis through the nearest regional office.

The RDC does have data available down to the CT and CSD geographic level. There is also DA level data available but in order to disseminate this data you would need to aggregate the DAs to a 5,000 plus population area.

Educational Attainment

Question

I have a request from a grad student who wants educational attainment data for Saskatoon. I've shown him how to use the community profiles to extract data for the entire city, but he'd like to find data at the CT or neighbourhood level. Is education data available at that geographic level without his resorting to a custom tabulation?

Answer

The following topic-based tabulations on Highest certificate, level or degree may meet the student's needs. They are available at the Census Tract (CT) level online and at the Dissemination Area (DA) level on the DLI FTP site.

• Highest Certificate, Diploma or Degree (14), Location of Study (5), Major Field of Study - Classification of Instructional Programs, 2000 (14), Age Groups (10A) and Sex (3) for the Population 15 Years and Over of Census Metropolitan Areas, Tracted Census Agglomerations and Census Tracts, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data 97-560-XCB2006016

(http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/tbt/Rp-eng.cfm?TABID=1&LANG=E&A=R&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=001&GID=759344&GK=10&GRP=1&O=D&PID=93620&PRID=0&PTYPE=88971,97154&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=755&Temporal=2006&THEME=75&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&D1=0&D2=0&D3=0&D4=0&D5=0&D6=0)

• Highest Certificate, Diploma or Degree (7), Location of Study (5), Major Field of Study - Classification of Instructional Programs, 2000 (14) and Sex (3) for the Population 15 Years and Over of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Divisions, Census Subdivisions and Dissemination Areas, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data - 97-560-XCB2006015

(http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=97-560-X2006015&lang=eng - available on the DLI FTP)

• Attendance at School (3), Highest Certificate, Diploma or Degree (13), Age Groups (10A) and Sex (3) for the Population 15 Years and Over of Census Metropolitan Areas, Tracted Census Agglomerations and Census Tracts, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data 97-560-XCB2006037

(http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/tbt/Rp-eng.cfm?TABID=1&LANG=E&A=R&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=001&GID=759344&GK=10&GRP=1&O=D&PID=97687&PRID=0&PTYPE=88971,97154&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=755&Temporal=2006&THEME=75&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&D1=0&D2=0&D3=0&D4=0&D5=0&D6=0)

Other education-related topic based tabulations are available at:

http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/tbt/St-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=0&PRID=0&PTYPE=88971,97154&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2006&THEME=75&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= (any DA level files described in this section are available on the DLI FTP site).

The education data in the 2006 Census CT and DA level cumulative profiles may also be of interest to the student:

• Profile for Census Metropolitan Areas, Tracted Census Agglomerations and Census Tracts, 2006 Census 94-581-XCB2006005

(http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/rel/Rp-eng.cfm?TABID=1&LANG=E&A=R&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=001&GID=759344&GK=10&GRP=1&O=D&PID=94537&PRID=0&PTYPE=89103&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2006&THEME=81&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&D1=0&D2=0&D3=0&D4=0&D5=0&D6=0)

• Profile for Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Divisions, Census Subdivisions and Dissemination Areas, 2006 Census 94-581-XCB2006002 (available on the DLI FTP - http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=94-581-X2006002&lang=eng)

The student may also wish to refer to the Education Reference Guide, 2006 Census

(http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/ref/rp-guides/education-eng.cfm) which discusses changes to education-related concepts in the 2006 Census. These underwent important changes in 2006.

Education concepts are also defined in the 2006 Census dictionary: http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/ref/dict/index-eng.cfm

Aboriginal Educational Attainment

Question

I’m looking at the figure for educational attainment of the Total Aboriginal identity population, 15 years and over, for the province of Ontario.

If I look at the following topic-based tabulation, the figure for ‘University certificate, diploma or degree’ is 16,480:

Aboriginal Identity (8), Highest Certificate, Diploma or Degree (14), Major Field of Study - Classification of Instructional Programs, 2000 (14), Area of Residence (6), Age Groups (10A) and Sex (3) for the Population 15 Years and Over Data products — Aboriginal Identity (8), Highest Certificate, Diploma or Degree (14), Major Field of Study - Classification of Instructional Programs, 2000 (14), Area of Residence (6), Age Groups (10A) and Sex (3) for the Population 15 Years for Canada, Provinces and Territories (97-560-X2006028)

However, if you look at the same data in the Aboriginal Population Profile 2006, the figure for ‘University, certificate diploma or degree’ is 12,435, which is the figure in the table above for ‘university certificate or degree’. The figures for all the other variables in the ‘Highest certificate, diploma or degree’ dimension match. Unless I’ve missed something, it looks like the label in the Aboriginal Population Profile 2006 is incorrect. If that is so, can this be corrected?

Answer

Our Census consultant has confirmed that the label "University, certificate diploma or degree" in the Aboriginal Population Profile 2006 is incorrect. It will be changed to "University certificate or degree."

Thanks very much for spotting that.

Educational Recycling

Question

I have a researcher interested in educational recycling which is obtaining and additional post secondary credentials at lower to equivalent levels. He is particularly interested in those who have either (a) diplomas or (b) degrees in engineering fields?

Answer

The first thing that came to mind was the National Graduate Survey. Granted the data is fairly dated at this point - the most recent data is from 1995.

I did notice that the questionnaire had a section called Section H. Education after graduation

One of the questions was: HA1
Since your graduation in 1995, did you complete diploma or post-secondary degree since graduation in 1995?

Starting on Page 237 of the PDF document for the Codebook, the relevant information is available
http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/Metadata/ngs/1995/ngs95cbk.pdf