The Business & Community Newsletter – June 2016

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The Business & Community Newsletter

Understanding Today's Youth

Today’s youthIn the 1960s Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie, the parents of teenagers ask the enduring question: “Kids, who can understand anything they say?”

Without a doubt, the world of today's kids is drastically different from the one of pre-digital generations. The parents of today's teenagers grew up in a world largely free of cell phones, Internet and tablets. Yet, the dilemma remains―just what is going on with our kids?

Luckily, Statistics Canada conducts several surveys to help parents, teachers and health-care professionals understand the next generation. Both the Canadian Community Health Survey and the General Social Survey, for example, include a sample of children and youth to decipher what they are experiencing in their daily lives.

Over the years, surveys like the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the Program for International Student Assessment and the more recent Ontario Child Health Study conducted with McMaster University have provided invaluable information about the health and academic lives of our youth.

The recent study, Living arrangements of children in Canada: A century of change examines the family structure and living arrangements of Canadian children over consecutive generations, based on census data for the period from 1901 to 2011. The study found that that some issues that are frequently considered modern phenomena have actually been present over many decades.

In addition, the Labour Force Survey includes 15 to 24 year olds to establish employment and income levels for younger people. In the article based on the Labour Force Survey, What has changed for young people in Canada?, the authors look at the economic and social well-being of young people, comparing the situation in different regions of the country. Are matters better or worse for younger Canadians in the labour market today than they were for their counterparts in the early 1980s? The answer, it seems, differs based on sex, age, and place of residence.

Older generations will probably always be somewhat mystified by the culture and behaviour of the young. While Statistics Canada does not have all the answers, the data can provide a context to those who live and work with kids every day. To discover the full extent of Statistics Canada's work on children and youth, visit www.statcan.gc.ca and browse the section “Children and youth”.

Feature articles

Study: Educational and labour market outcomes of childhood immigrants by admission class, 1980 to 2000

student It has been well documented that the children of immigrants in Canada outperform their peers with Canadian-born parents in educational attainment, and that the two groups have similar labour market outcomes. However, large variations by ethnicity or source country exist among the children of immigrants.

The study, Educational and labour market outcomes of childhood immigrants by admission class, examines the extent to which admission class (e.g., skilled workers, business immigrants, live-in caregivers, the family class and refugees) also matters in the socioeconomic outcomes of childhood immigrants who arrived in Canada before the age of 18.

Young adult offenders in Canada, 2014

young adult offender This Juristat article, Young adult offenders in Canada, uses police-reported data from the Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey to examine the nature of crime committed by young adults, and how it compares to crime among youth and older adults. It also examines changes in rates of offending as young people develop from adolescence to young adulthood and transition through their 20s.

Study: Living arrangements of Aboriginal children aged 14 and under, 2011

While Aboriginal children represented 7% of all children in Canada in 2011, they accounted for almost half (48%) of all foster children in the country. Among Aboriginal foster children, 44% lived with at least one Aboriginal foster parent. These findings are included in a new study, Living arrangements of Aboriginal children aged 14 and under. The study also includes more detailed information about the living arrangements of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children. In 2011, there were nearly 400,000 Aboriginal children aged 14 and under living in diverse arrangements across Canada.

Elementary and secondary education expenditures, 2013/2014

school busElementary and secondary education expenditures data tables are now available for elementary and secondary education expenditures by type and by direct source.
The objective of this annual release is to disseminate financial information on elementary and secondary education in Canada. These financial statistics are collected for each province and territory and are converted to a standard classification of financial accounts and to a fiscal year.

Elementary and secondary education expenditures are broken down by type, such as public, private, special education, administration and school boards. These expenses are also broken down by direct source of funds, such as federal, provincial and local governments, fees and private sources.

Numbers in focus

Every month we put a couple of interesting numbers in the spotlight!

Numbers in Focus - 58%
Numbers in Focus - 58%

In 2012, 58% of 15- to 24-year-olds were full-time students compared with 39% in 1981. Since young people are staying in school longer, some of them are delaying leaving the family home as well as their definitive entry into the labour market.

Source: Labour Force Survey (LFS)

Numbers in Focus - 22%
Numbers in Focus - 22%

The share of lone-parent families rose, from a low of 6% in 1961 to 15% in 1991 and to 22% in 2011. In contrast to the lone-parent families of the early 20th century, a larger proportion of these families were headed by women.

Source: Canadian census of population for the period from 1901 to 2011

What's new?

StatCan Blog: Your community in stats

a community Ever wonder how you community differs from other Canadian communities? Need to move, and want to know what your new community looks like? Want information on the local job prospects, health status, demographic trends, aging, or level of satisfaction with life?

Statistics Canada can provide the data on all these topics, telling you a lot about your community. For more, read the April post in the StatCan Blog, Your community in stats.

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