Recent Developments in the Work of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics Author(s): Marjorie Tucker Source: The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science / Revue canadienne d'Economique et de Science politique, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Feb., 1964), pp. 110-115 Published by: Wiley on behalf of Canadian Economics Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/139173 . Accessed: 15/06/2014 22:51 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Wiley and Canadian Economics Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science / Revue canadienne d'Economique et de Science politique. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 185.2.32.28 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:51:28 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
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Recent Developments in the Work of the Dominion Bureau of StatisticsAuthor(s): Marjorie TuckerSource: The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science / Revue canadienned'Economique et de Science politique, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Feb., 1964), pp. 110-115Published by: Wiley on behalf of Canadian Economics AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/139173 .
Accessed: 15/06/2014 22:51
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
Wiley and Canadian Economics Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science / Revue canadienne d'Economique et deScience politique.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 185.2.32.28 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:51:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE WORK OF THE DOMINION BUREAU OF STATISTICS*
MARJORIE TUCKER
Ottawa
Economic Statistics To facilitate the analysis of long-term economic trends the Bureau, in co- operation with the Historical Statistics Committee of the Canadian Political Science Association and the Bank of Canada, has prepared a number of his- torical series. These series are contained in the recently published report, Historical Monthly Statistics.' This publication provides original data, season- ally adjusted data and seasonal indexes for some thirty series, most of which extend back to the early twenties and some to earlier periods. The series cover a sufficiently long period of time to be useful for historical comparisons and are considered to be important as economic indicators. This publication may be used in conjunction with Historical Statistics for Canada, a volume to be issued by the Canadian Political Science Association and the Social Science Research Council.
Historical statistics on the Index of Industrial Production were also made available in a supplement to the March, 1963, bulletin.2 This supplement shows monthly indexes adjusted and unadjusted for seasonality for the major com- ponents, manufacturing, mining and electric power utilities, back to January, 1919; indexes for durable and non-durable manufacturing extend back to 1935 only. All published detail of the Indexes of Industrial Production not con- tained in the basic reference paper, Revised Index of Industrial Production, 1935-19573 is gathered together in the supplement.
Two other publications are of interest from a historical point of view. Late in 1963 the Bureau released the Canadian Statistical Review Historical Sum- mary.4 Formerly supplements were issued biennially but the present practice is to issue them from time to time as the need arises. The summary contains only annual series whereas previous volumes also contained monthly series. All tables extend from 1926, or as far back as the data permit, to 1962.
In mid-1963 the Bureau issued the Annual Supplement to the Canadian Statistical Review.5 This publication contains the original and the seasonally adjusted monthly data, 1946 to 1962 inclusive, for the series now shown in the "S" section of the Canadian Statistical Review.
The Bureau's program of implementing standard classification systems and
*This is the fifth of a series of notes intended to keep readers of the JOURNAL in touch with the evolution of statistical programs in Canada. The first note was published in November, 1959; subsequent notes have appeared in the February issues of this JOURNAL.
lCatalogue no. 11-503, $1.50. All publications with a catalogue number that are given in the footnotes to this report are available from the Queen's Printer, Ottawa.
the new concept of "the establishment" is now well advanced and provides a unifying thread running through a variety of new developments.
Volume III of the Standard Commodity Classification, which is the alphabe- tical index, is now in print. At the time of writing, publication of a revised edition of Volume II, the classified index, is postponed pending changes that may be indicated when the Import Commodity Classification, based upon the Standard, is introduced in January, 1964. The Import Commodity Classification will bring the grouping system for imports into line with that introduced for exports at the beginning of 1960.
The Bureau's Standard List of Establishments is being made more compre- hensive as information and resources permit. The results of the 1961 Census of Distribution will assist in completing the list of establishments for trade and service industries. A system of identification numbers is now being applied- the pattern of numbers being such that the establishments of multi-establish- ment firms are identifiable as such and those having a common parent are linked. Thus, the Standard List of Establishments will provide also a standard list of firms supplying a link between data collected on an establishment basis (e.g., Census of Manufactures) and those gathered on the basis of firms (e.g., Corporation Profits).
The 1961 Census of Manufactures used the new definition of "establish- ment," the principal change involving the use of an accounting entity as the reporting unit rather than a unit engaged in a particular kind of activity. In addition, an establishment now reports on all its operational activities, showing its manufacturing and non-manufacturing operations separately. Some estab- lishments formerly included in the Census of Manufactures have been assigned to other industry divisions because their principal activities are non-manufac- turing, while as explained above establishments primarily engaged in manu- facturing now report on their total activity. These changes have been analysed and principal statistics for manufacturing operations are being adjusted back to 1957 so far as possible to correspond with the new definition of establish- ment. In the meantime the 1962 publications covering all activities of report- ing establishments will provide comparable data also for 1961.
The monthly series of manufacturers' orders, inventories, and shipments was converted to the Standard Industrial Classification in 1963; the statistics go back to 1958. The next major revision contemplated for this series is the adop- tion of the new establishment concept. This revision, wlhich will be based on the 1961 Census of Manufactures, should be available early in 1964.
It is planned to implement the new concept of establishment in the Census of Mines, Quarries, and Oil Wells for the year 1963.
In common with other industry surveys, the 1961 Decennial Census of the merchandising and service trades adopted the new concept of establishment. According to this concept the establishment is an accounting entity in the sense that it is capable of reporting the main elements of input and output. However, many users of merchandising and service trade statistics are inter- ested in having the kind of detail (such as sales, payroll, value of inventories) which can be secured from each individual store or business location but which is lost when the unit is only one of a number of units making up an- accounting
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112 Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science
entity. In addition to the new statistics of the establishment series, merchandis- ing and service trades will continue to provide the traditional data on the trade characteristics and precise geographical location of individual units.
There are a number of new developments in the area of retail trade statistics. Steps are being taken to improve the estimates of total retail trade. The inter- censal sampling program is being altered. The present main sample of sales of retail store locations is to be supplemented by a sample of the universe of establishments in retail trade; this new sample is designed to elicit, among other things, information on operating expenses. The present survey of corpor- ate chain stores is to be complemented by a survey of voluntary chain stores.6 The Bureau also plans to undertake over a five-year period inquiries into direct selling.
So far as retail trade inventories are concerned, a program is now being developed to obtain information on the commodity content of stocks in tlhe hands of retailers.
For establishments principally engaged in wholesale trade, an attempt is being made to develop an annual survey which will provide the main elements of input and output. This survey will be expanded from time to time to meet non-recurring needs.
Turning to price statistics, a historical volume of Canadian consumer price indexes covering the period 1913-61 was released in late 1963 .7 The publication brings together in one volume the five successive consumer price indexes covering the movement of retail prices since 1913, as well as component indexes for a wide range of groups of commodities and services included in the aggregate indexes. Indexes for groups within several alternate systems of clas- sification of commodities and services are provided. A comparison of the move- ment of the 1937-38 weighted indexes and the 1947-48 weighted indexes over the period 1949-61, and the weighting diagrams of the 1937-38, the 1947-48 and the 1957 weighted indexes are also presented. A retail price series for the period 1900-13 is included.
Further study is being given to the development of spatial price indexes which would measure the difference in the average level of retail prices among major Canadian cities. Spatial indexes of food prices were developed some years ago and annual indexes are published on a continuing b;asis in Prices and Price Indexes.8 Extension of such indexes to include important non-food com- ponents of family expenditures is now being investigated. Useful results are not expected before late 1964.
Initial studies relating to revision of the Consumer Price Index have been undertaken. The principal purpose of the revision will be to bring the item content and the weights, which reflect the relative importance of individual items in the index, into line with family expenditure patterns in 1962. (Weight- ing diagrams in the current index are based on family expenditures in 1957.) Close attention will be given also to a number of significant conceptual issues, including the use of seasonally variable weights for food, the weights for
6A voluntary chain is a number of independently owned stores grouped by agreement around a single supplier of goods or services, or both, for the purpose of securing competi- tive advantages.
durables, particularly owner-occupied housing, and the scope and representa- tiveness of item and store samples.
Acting in co-operation with industry and with other government depart- ments and agencies, the Bureau is initiating new developments in the field of energy statistics. Plans have been made to introduce some new series and to expand, consolidate, and refine existing ones. In the area of electric power statistics, it is planned to introduce in 1964 an expanded monthly survey which, in addition to the generation and interchange data now collected, will provide an energy account with details of sales by rate classification. The annual report on electric power statistics has been expanded to give additional data on plant operations and will consolidate the major electric power statisti- cal requirements of the National Energy Board, the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, the Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources, the Dominion Coal Board, and the Dominion Bureau of Statistics. In the area of petroleum statistics, arrangements have been made to introduce an annual survey of marketer-distributors of propane in Eastern Canada and to compile, for Canada as a whole, annual supply-disposition and end-use data on liquefied petroleum gases. Agreement has also been reached with refiners and distribu- tors to provide expanded coverage and an improved breakdown on annual sales of major petroleum products.
In the area of primary industry, developmental work is being carlied out, in co-operation with the Department of Fisheries, on a new survey of the fish- ing industry. The survey, which is to be periodic rather than regular, is complete for large firms and on a sample basis for small ones. Questionnaires are now being tested in the field. This is a difficult area to survey on account of the multiplicity of small units which often do not keep complete accounting records.
Heretofore in the forestry industry there was only a decennial census of farm woodlands and estimates were made for inter-censal years. Develop- mental work is now being done on an annual survey of farm woodlands based on the Agriculture Division's June crop survey.
In agricultural statistics, two studies have been under way on methods of obtaining data on tender fruit tree crops in the Niagara district and on the apple crop in Quebec, both in co-operation with the provincial authorities. Data on tree plantings and tree removals in the Niagara District are now available for the first time. Attention has also been given to preparing annual estimates of the consumption of forage crop seeds in Canada. The manual AVeights and Conversion Factors for Canadian Agrictultural Products,9 which is of considerable international interest, has been reviewed and brought up to date.
A report on farm family income from sources other than the farm, the second on this subject, was nearing publication at time of writing. Three other reports are in preparation: one on farm capitalization and indebtedness, one on the costs of operating farm power machinery, and one on farm income and expenditure by type of farm. The reports just mentioned have their origin in the 1958 Farm Income and Expenditure Survey. The Bureau is establishing a new series on plant sales of skim milk powder and has initiated a study of farmers' costs for insurance incurred on behalf of the farm business.
"'Catalogue no. A.73-1155, 25?.
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114 Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science
The main results of the 1962 survey of consumer finances will be released early in 1964 in the publication The Distribution of Non-Farm Incomes in Canada by Size, 1961;10 some preliminary data were released in the fall of 1963. The publication is similar to those pertaining to the years 1951, 1954, 1957, and 1959. As a new feature the report will include some analysis of the work experience of the population in the civilian labour force in 1961. Another survey is scheduled for the spring of 1964. This survey will be broadened to collect information on asset holdings and indebtedness of non-farm households similar to the surveys for 1955 and 1958.
Release of data on income from the 20 per cent sample of non-farm households in the 1961 Census of Canada may begin in the first half of 1964. It is hoped to complete publication of all the main statistics by the end of 1964. The more important tables will be included in Volume IV of the census reports, but addi- tional material will be made available in special reports. The first data to become available will be on family income to be followed by individual income statistics and finally household income. Census tract statistics will be released in a special report.
The 20 per cent sample of non-farm households in the 1961 Census of Canada covered internal migration and fertility as well as income. Data on these two subjects will also be released during 1964 and data for census tracts on all three subjects will be released in the special reports mentioned above.
As part of the program to fill the gaps in existing statistics on government operations, the Bureau recently published a report entitled Financial Statistics of Provincial Government Enterprises 1958-1961,1" which provides statistics on assets, liabilities and net worth, current revenue and expenditure, and net surplus account transactions of these enterprises grouped according to the Standard Industrial Classification. A similar report for federal government enterprises was released in 1962.
The development of global productivity indexes for the commercial, non- farm sector of the economy is in an advanced stage. The preparation of this series, which covers the period from 1947 to date, involved developing figures of average hours worked and suitable employment data, from various sources, to match the real output series. The program of productivity studies for selected manufacturing industries also made progress in the areas of both theoretical development and statistical measurement. In addition to the task of matching input and output data, a number of other major problems were encountered and studied, such as product-mix, quality change, and new products.
The industry real output reference paper, Indexes of Real Domestic Product by Industry of Origin 1935-1961,12 was published last June. The publication contained annual indexes for the spectrum of domestic industry from 1935 to 1962 inclusive as well as quarterly indexes adjusted and unadjusted for season- ality by quarters from 1946 to 1962 inclusive.
The basic publications program for the 1961 Census of Canada is proceed- ing and should be complete by the end of 1964 or early 1965. The program is set out in the document Catalogue of Publications of the Census of Canada'3
which should be available by the time this note appears in print; it gives a complete list of publications, their contents, catalogue numbers and prices.
Several developments can be reported in the area of sampling studies. The labour force survey is being redesigned on a province by province basis; the redesign began late in 1963. The retail sales sample and the motor transport survey are also being redesigned. Studies of the coverage and content error of the 1961 Census have been completed.
Social Statistics For some time many other countries, and international agencies, such as.
UNESCO and OECD, have shown an interest in statistics related to planning for future educational needs. Canada entered this field for the first time in 1963 when the Bureau conducted a survey of provincial Departments of Education and related Departments, school boards in larger cities, and universities; questionnaires were also sent to a number of economically developed overseas countries as well as to several states in the United States. The statistics on education now being collected will be reconsidered in the light of the information elicited in this important area.
In 1963, also for the first time, the Bureau, in co-operation with the Depart- ment of Labour, undertook a survey of in-service training in industry. At present, this survey is limited in scope but it will be expanded from year to year.
In the field of health and welfare statistics, a decision has been made to discontinue publication of four reports: Home Nursing Services (Victorian Order of Nurses for Canada),'4 Statistical Report of Illness in the Civil Service,15 Poliomyelitis Trends,'6 and Tuberculosis Trends.17
To fill a request from the Royal Commission on Hospital Services for Canadian hospital morbidity statistics, DBS tabulated the combined 1960 hospitalization data of eight provinces; the remaining provinces, Alberta and Quebec, were unable to provide the data. The tabulations are being incor- porated into two publications-the first showing cases, days of care and rates by the Intermediate Listl8 of 150 diagnoses, 5-year age intervals, and sex and the second showing cases, days of care, and rates by the Detailed List'8 of 3-digit diagnoses, 5-year age-groups, and sex.
During 1962, DBS released Infectious Hepatitis, 1961, a report on an infec- tious disease that has become an increasingly serious public health problem in recent years. This publication described the etiology of the disease, gave an indication of monthly and historical trends and showed age-specific and sex- specific rates for those provinces which could provide the data.
The use of the computer has made it possible to release a comprehensive set of analytical statistics pertaining to hospital activities. These statistics, which are now available annually beginning with 1961, measure workload, utilization, quality of care, unit costs, and other aspects of hospital operations. Formerly only a few of these indicators were prepared.
