Provincial Wage and Salary Survey

Detailed information for 2003 (New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Wage Rate Survey)

The objective of this survey is to produce statistical information on wages and salaries paid for various occupations classified to the National Occupation Classification (NOC).

Data release - November 28, 2003

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology

Description

This is a client-sponsored special survey that has been conducted in various provinces at different times. The objective of this survey is to produce statistical information on wages and salaries paid for various occupations classified to the National Occupation Classification (NOC).

The results of the survey help governments and businesses by providing accurate and up-to-date information on the wages paid by employers for workers in different occupations and industries.

Subjects

• Labour
• Occupations
• Wages, salaries and other earnings

Data sources and methodology

Instrument design

The questionnaire is based on previous general wage rate surveys undertaken by Small Business and Special Surveys Division of Statistics Canada. Questionnaire testing was conducted on location by a consultant from the Questionnaire Design Resource Center and an observer from the Small Business and Special Surveys project team with recruited participants.

Sampling

This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.

We are interested in producing estimates by occupation and in order to obtain this information we need to contact an establishment. The establishment records are classified based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) but do not have occupation information for employees working in the establishment. Targeting for occupations is done using Census tables of people employed by 4-digit level NAICS, by 4-digit National Occupation Classification (NOC), and by economic region. Fifteen occupations are associated with each 4-digit level NAICS in a way that optimizes coverage of all the occupations selected for the survey.

Although 15 occupations are assigned to each unit in the sample, to keep the response burden low the respondents are asked to provide wage information for a maximum of 10 of the 15. To preserve optimal coverage, the occupations associated with a given 4-digit level NAICS are ordered randomly for each establishment in that NAICS. This is done so that each occupation has an equal probability of being among the first ten.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects that could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. 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.

In order to prevent any data disclosure, confidentiality analysis is done using the Statistics Canada Generalized Disclosure Control System (G-Confid). G-Confid is used for primary suppression (direct disclosure) as well as for secondary suppression (residual disclosure). Direct disclosure occurs when the value in a tabulation cell is composed of or dominated by few enterprises while residual disclosure occurs when confidential information can be derived indirectly by piecing together information from different sources or data series.