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Comparisons between data up to 1995 and data since 1996Starting with reference year 1996, the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) replaced the annual Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) as the official source of family income in Canada. This means that estimates of Income in Canada and Income Trends in Canada up to and including 1995 are drawn from SCF (last conducted for reference year 1997), and estimates for 1996 and onwards are drawn from the SLID (which was introduced in 1993). The Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) database expanded with the edition of the reference year 2006 to include micro-data from the cross-sectional Survey of Consumer finance (SCF) from 1976 to 1997 inclusive. Some of the SCF information is now available through the SLID entities database. This will permit users to access a longer period of historical data from a unique database. Users still have the choice of using the SCF historical files, if it better suits their needs. Data from SCF were adapted as much as possible to SLID concepts variables. Most of the income variables as well as others, such as demographic information, were converted in this edition. Other SCF data will be transformed and added to the SLID database in the future. When SLID was originally created, every attempt was made to minimize and monitor these differences between the two income surveys, while nonetheless making some important improvements in survey practices. Before replacing the SCF series with SLID, a study was done on the overlapping reference years, particularly the years 1996 and 1997. The results of the study are contained in a research paper, A Comparison of the Results of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) and the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) 1993-1997: Update (75F002MIE99007). All ISD research papers are available free of charge.In short, it was found that the two surveys told essentially the same story for all of the main income concepts. Nonetheless, analysis of some data trends reveals a “break” as a result of the change in survey. Such a break would represent a change in the data which is attributable to the two surveys having different samples and different methods rather than a true change in the characteristics of the population. Users are advised to take note of the following survey differences which are known to exist and to have had an impact on the data trends at some detailed levels Better coverage of small income amountsOne notable improvement that occurred as a result of new survey techniques introduced in SLID is better coverage of small income amounts received by respondents. It has been observed in surveys conducted by questionnaire that respondents tend to forget or neglect small income amounts they received in the past. This means an underestimation of income in general. The use of administrative income tax files in SLID for approximately 80% of sample respondents means that there is considerably better coverage of non-zero amounts of income, and in general, a greater number of recipients of most kinds of income. Detailed family typesFollowing the SCF conversion into SLID concepts, the standard published “detailed family types” for economic families are now derived with reference to the“major income earner”.Nonetheless, differences between the two surveys persist. The preference given to older members following the head of family concept was preserved during the conversion of SCF. The major income earner was determined from the couple comprised of the head of the family and his spouse. Younger adults are much more likely to qualify as major income earners in SLID than they did in SCF. As a result, we see significant decreases in the number of “other elderly families” and “married couples with other relatives”, and a large increase in the number of “other non-elderly families”. (See the section “Family definitions” for the precise definitions of family types.) Impact of the conversion on the published estimates in Income Trends in Canada and Income in CanadaThe historical series now extends to years 1976 to 1979, as well as the years included in previous versions, 1980 to the last reference year of SLID. The change in family concepts resulting from the transition from SCF to SLID has not affected data produced for the entire population of families consisting of two or more persons. However, for some of the detailed family types, the estimated number of families underwent a one-time increase or decrease. Shift from elderly families to non-elderly familiesThe previous definition always gave husbands the status of head of family rather than wives, with the major income earner concept there is no distinction by sex, and it is possible for the wife to qualify. Since it still holds that wives are on average younger than husbands at least for older couples, this has caused a shift from elderly families to non-elderly families. Shift from other families (other than elderly families) to lone-parent familiesIn the original SCF, in order for a family to be classified as lone-parent, not only the family head had to be without a spouse and have at least one child below 18 years old, but no other family member could be present and all children had to be singles. By other family member we mean a parent, a grand-child or a child’s spouse of the family head. Following the conversion, these families were classified as lone-parent families and thus explain that some of the “other non-elderly families” shifted to lone-parent families. Shift from two-parent families with children to married couples with other relativesChildren of guardians are not considered “children” in the classification of the SLID economic family type variable. In other words, older relatives are not treated as de facto parents when there is no direct parent identified. This transformation explains the shift from two-parent families with children to married couples with other relatives. Less full year full time workersIn SLID, working full year, means working 52 weeks compared to 50 weeks for SCF. For this reason, after the conversion there were less full year full time workers and their average earnings increased. Job characteristicsJob characteristics in SCF were defined based on the job involving the greatest number of usual hours worked during the reference week of the Labour Force Survey (LFS). If the respondent had not worked during the reference week , the job characteristics were defined by the most recent job within the last year (for the 1996 and 1997 reference years) or the last five years (for the 1976 to 1995 reference years). With the conversion of SCF, job characteristics were kept only if the respondent had worked during the reference year. This change explains that some respondents no longer have job characteristics information, such as occupation and industry, if they had not worked. Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) Credits from 1987 to 1989With the conversion of SCF, amounts for the Federal Sales Tax Credits from 1987 to 1990 were moved from provincial and territorial tax credits to Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) Credits. This explains that a value is found for GST and HST between 1987 and 1989. Impact of the conversion on the micro-data base and on the extraction tool SLIDRETSome of the SCF information is now available through the SLID entities database. This will permit users to access a longer period of historical data from a unique database. Users still have the choice of using the SCF historical files, if it better suits their needs. Since SLID data starts with reference year 1993, there are five years of overlap between the two surveys where users have to specify which survey they intend to be using when accessing micro-data through the extraction tool – SLIDRET (see SLIDRET User’s manual – cross-sectional section). For a complete list of the variables available using SLID concepts from SCF, see product Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) - A Survey Overview section Notes and Definitions – Comparisons between data up to 1995 and data since 1996.Comparisons with previous editionsData from different editions are not directly comparable. Every edition has some modifications done on data. The modification which is applied every year is the expression of all dollar amounts in constant dollars of the latest reference year. (See “Current dollars versus constant dollars”.) Periodically, the weights are updated to reflect the availability of new population benchmarks provided by a new census. The most recent multi-year weight revision for the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics and the Survey of Consumer Finance occurred with the release of data for 2003, when the population projections based on the 2001 Census of Population were incorporated. The improvements to survey weights during the 2000 and 2003 historical revisions were part of a comprehensive project at Statistics Canada regarding the weighting strategies in the main annual surveys on income, expenditures, and wealth. Weights are typically adjusted using population benchmarks by province, age and sex. Since the 2000 weight revision, the weights in SLID also respect population benchmarks by household size and economic family size. Since the 2003 revision, the weights from 1990 to the current period include adjustments based on the annual T4 file from Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), which is a compilation of employer remittances for the purposes of payroll taxes. For more, please refer to the free research paper,Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics: 2003 historical revision, Statistics Canada, |