Showing posts with label Stats Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stats Canada. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Tory War On Facts
Saw this at the Stats Canada website this morning:
This is not an obscure report; the leading indicators is one of Stats Cans major monthly publications that investors and economists employ all over the freaking planet. Probably the easiest one to replace, as you can weave the other time series together and make your own. Nevertheless, cuts at your national statistical agency = knowledge lost, not money saved.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
When Statscan Starts Spinning
...you know that its gonna be bad:
...[retail] sales are up in nine provinces. Woo hoo, the recession is over!
But if we take a reality check, and look not at December 2008 to January 2009 numbers, but January 2009 over January 2008, the result is brutal. I looked through the tables and we find that retail sales are down almost 6% over a year ago. Some of the sub-categories are much worse, such as auto sales, which are down 18%. That is deep recession territory.
[...]
All that the Daily tells us, in this context, is that December was really awful, and January was somewhat of an improvement relative to December. But ignoring the year-over-year trend is scandalous and irresponsible, and I for one would like to know who made that call over at Statscan. It just seems way too convenient that this analysis is in step with the federal government’s upbeat message track.
I've heard a few rumours that CMHC has considered soft-soaping their housing starts numbers, the argument being that you (as a data collection agency) don't want to do anything contribute to the overall negativity. Nevertheless, these analyses are supposed to be the solid ground against which all else econometric is measured. Start mucking around with them for (broadly) political reasons and you undermine trust in everything else you read.
...[retail] sales are up in nine provinces. Woo hoo, the recession is over!
But if we take a reality check, and look not at December 2008 to January 2009 numbers, but January 2009 over January 2008, the result is brutal. I looked through the tables and we find that retail sales are down almost 6% over a year ago. Some of the sub-categories are much worse, such as auto sales, which are down 18%. That is deep recession territory.
[...]
All that the Daily tells us, in this context, is that December was really awful, and January was somewhat of an improvement relative to December. But ignoring the year-over-year trend is scandalous and irresponsible, and I for one would like to know who made that call over at Statscan. It just seems way too convenient that this analysis is in step with the federal government’s upbeat message track.
I've heard a few rumours that CMHC has considered soft-soaping their housing starts numbers, the argument being that you (as a data collection agency) don't want to do anything contribute to the overall negativity. Nevertheless, these analyses are supposed to be the solid ground against which all else econometric is measured. Start mucking around with them for (broadly) political reasons and you undermine trust in everything else you read.
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