Labour Productivity Measures - Provinces and Territories (Annual)

Detailed information for 2003

The annual provincial program of Canadian Productivity Accounts (CPA) produces annual data on jobs, hours worked, labour compensation and a variety of related variables, such as labour productivity and unit labour cost by province and territory.

Data release - April 28, 2004

• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy

Description

The annual provincial program of Canadian Productivity Accounts (CPA) produces data on jobs, hours worked, labour compensation and a variety of related variables, such as labour productivity and unit labour cost by province and territory.

The labour statistics produced by the provincial program of the CPA shed light on the labour market performance of provinces and territories and allow for the construction of provincial and territorial productivity series. Provincial and territorial labour statistics are produced by integrating different data sources in order to generate estimates consistent with the Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA). These estimates constitute the benchmark of the quarterly program of the CPA (see record number 5042)). These labour statistics are employed by analysts, policymakers and researchers to assess the provincial and territorial economic performance and its contribution at the national level.

These annual statistics are published two weeks after as provincial economic accounts of which they are an integral part. Note that the estimates published by the provincial program are experimental.

Statistical activity

The Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA) provides a conceptually integrated statistical framework for studying the state and behavior of the Canadian economy. The accounts are centered on the measurement of activities associated with the production of goods and services, the sales of goods and services in final markets, the supporting financial transactions, and the resulting wealth positions.

To produce financial statistics, the CSNA measures the economic dimensions of the public sector of Canada, including the financial inter-relationships among the thousands of entities that make up the three levels of government in Canada (federal, provincial and territorial, and local). In order to carry out this program, the CSNA maintains a universe of all public sector entities including their complex inter-relationships.

• Additional documentation

The Canadian Productivity Accounts (CPA) are responsible for producing, analyzing and disseminating Statistics Canada's official data on productivity and for the production and integration of data on employment, hours worked and capital services consistent with the System of National Economic Accounts. To this end, the CPA comprises three programs. The quarterly program provides current estimates on labour productivity and labour costs at the aggregate level for 15 industry groups. The annual multifactor productivity program provides yearly estimates on multifactor productivity and related measures (output, capital input, labour input and intermediate inputs) as they apply to the major sectors of the economy and to industries at the national and provincial levels (see Productivity Measures and Related Variables - National and Provincial [Annual], record number 1402). Lastly, the annual provincial program, as an integral part of the provincial and territorial economic accounts, provides estimates of employment, hours worked, labour productivity and labour costs at the industry level for each province and territory (see Labour Productivity Measures - Provinces and Territories [Annual], record number 5103).

• Additional documentation

Provincial and territorial accounts - The System of National Economic Accounts disseminates a wide variety of data at the provincial and territorial level on topics such as the environment, government finance, gross domestic product (GDP) and its components, GDP by industry, tourism and labour productivity.

• Additional documentation

Subjects

• Economic accounts
• Productivity accounts

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The conceptual universe encompasses:
- Ten provinces, three territories and employees of the federal public service working abroad;
- Three job categories (paid workers and self-employed, with paid help, self-employed without paid help);
- 286 industries (W-NAICS) and their aggregates L, M and S of the SNA; and
- The economy as a whole by distinguishing business sector and non-business sector.

Instrument design

This methodology does not apply.

Sampling

This methodology does not apply.

Data sources

Data are extracted from administrative files and derived from other Statistics Canada surveys and/or other sources.

To produce estimates of provincial and territorial labour statistics and related variables, the provincial program of the CPA employs various surveys, administrative data and other data produced by the CSNA:

1) The Labour Force Survey (LFS; record no. 3701) and the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH; record no. 2612) which provide data on employment, labour compensation and hours worked;

2) Provincial, territorial and national real gross domestic product (GDP) by industry as well as labour compensation produced by the Industry Accounts Division (record no. 1303);.

3) The number of jobs and labour compensation of public and governmental institutions produced by the Public Institution Division (record no. 1750);

4) Information on the composition of the labour force based on the survey of labour and income dynamics (record no. 3889);

5) Tax data slips (T4s -- Statement of Remuneration Paid) collected by the Canada Revenue Agency are exploited to measure the number of jobs in the territories;

6) The Census data allow the derivation of the number of non-salaried jobs (record no. 3901);

7) The Manufacturing, Construction and Energy Division prepares data on the number of jobs in the manufacturing and mining sectors (record no. 2103 and the mining census);

8) The Human Resources and Skills Development Canada provides data relating to labour strikes to assist in estimating actual hours worked;

9) The Income and Expenditures Division prepares current data on remuneration (record no. 1902).

Error detection

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Imputation

Unlike labour income data on paid jobs, data on the income of self-employed workers are not available from the Income and Expenditure Accounts Division. The income of self-employed workers is therefore established by imputation. The imputation is based, in general, on the assumption that the value of an hour worked by a self-employed worker is equal to the value of an hour worked by a paid worker (at the average rate) in the same industry.

Estimation

There is no unique labour statistics program at Statistics Canada that provides measures of hours worked consistent both conceptually and with respect to coverage with the CSNA. The CPA fill this void. Although the labour statistics produced by the CPA are the result of the integration of data from a variety of surveys and statistical programs, they can be reconciled with the aggregate series produced by the LFS.

Data on hours worked by category of jobs and by industry for each province and territory constructed by the CPA are derived from the product of the number of jobs and the average number of hours worked per job estimated on the basis of two different, albeit, complementary approaches.

At the aggregate level, data on jobs and hours worked per job for each province and territory and by category of workers (paid workers, self-employed with paid help and self--employed without help) are derived mainly from the LFS after some adjustments for multiple job holders and unpaid absentees. To make the coverage of labour input consistent with that of GDP, the LFS data are supplemented with Census data to estimate the interprovincial flows, the SEPH data to estimate the northern territories and native reserves, the labour statistics program of the Public Institution Division to estimate armed forces established in Canada, civil employees and armed forces operating outside Canada. The combination of these data sources provides the benchmark on jobs and hours worked.

Data on jobs and hours per job necessary to construct hours worked by industry, by province and territory and by category of jobs are obtained from a variety of surveys. The data sources for jobs vary depending of the category of jobs. The primary source for paid workers is SEPH, supplemented by LFS for industries that are not part of SEPH coverage (agriculture, fishing and trapping, religious organizations and private households) or for which SEPH is not entirely reliable (construction, retail trade, food and accommodation). For the self-employed, the information on jobs result from a combination of LFS for major industry groupings and the Census of population for the industry detail.

Data on average hours up to a four-digit industry level are obtained from LFS. In case where LFP doest not provide a sufficient level of industry detail, the additional industry breakdown is obtained from SEPH. The information of which is benchmarked to the corresponding LFS industry grouping.

For more details, see additional documentation and see "Annual Measures of the Volume of Work Consistent with the SNA: the Canadian Experience", Methodology Paper Series: National Accounts, Catalogue No. 11F0026MIE2005005.

• Additional documentation

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any data which would divulge information obtained under the Statistics Act that relates to any identifiable person, business or organization without the prior knowledge or the consent in writing of that person, business or organization. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

The Canadian Productivity Accounts use the confidentiality model developed by the Industry Accounts Division. This model uses a method which suppresses sensitive cells.

Data are also suppressed if they have been assigned an unreliable quality rating.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

Generally, the release dates and the revisions of the labour statistics are synchronised with the other components of the Provincial and Territorial Economic Accounts. However, because this program is still experimental, historical revisions have been carried back to 1997 since its inception in 2002.

Data accuracy

The approach used is based on expert judgment. The accuracy of the data is based on the quality of the data sources and the extent to which the series are affected by unexplained breaks (if applicable).

Based on this principle, data produced by the provincial program are deemed fairly accurate for the purpose at hand.