Thread by @ArmineYalnizyan

Hey everybody this chart is great news on two fronts:
1) only 12.1% of Canada's 15-29 year olds are not working, in school or training. We can do better, but we're better than most of OECD's 36 nations.
2) this number was 16.6% 5 days ago. Shocking. Here's what happened next /2

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It seemed high given we were 9th worst out of 36 countries. @AlexUsherHESA pointed out relatively high PSE enrolments and relatively low unemployment made it seem odd.
StatCan doesn't publish data series on the category. 1 monograph here: statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidie… /3

That's for 15-19 year olds only, and only for 2016. I asked them for the data series for 15-29 year olds, because they were likely the originators of the data OECD used. The 2016 value was much lower than the OECD.
OECD needs to make data from around the world comparable. /4

So I wrote to colleagues at OECD to ask about the discrepancy.
Meantime I asked fed bureaucrats at ESDC (relevant dept) whether they'd knew what could cause the discrepancy.
Everyone responded within 24 hrs. This is what happened. /5

OECD had the right number for Canada in the data files they published, but not in the chart.
They immediately withdrew the chart. Reformulated it. Republished it today and posted it on the tweeter.
The perfect way to deal with a simple error.
One more thing. /6

Canada went from the 9th worst performance for young people to the 16th best (out of 36 nations). GREAT news. But we should aim higher. We're the 10th largest economy in the world. This is the precise demographic that must maximize its potential now for the future to work. /7

If we don't improve this metric, we won't stay the 10th largest economy in the world for long. We've got to focus on #InclusiveGrowth. Because if we aren't leading the #RaceToTheTop, then we're losing ground.
Like so: theglobeandmail.com/business/comme…

A personal post-script: I confess it was both a relief and a humbling experience to see that an august organization like the OECD can also make a mistake, and how quickly and professional it corrected it.
#WayToAdult guys (and gals)

Early morning thoughts: the Labour Force Survey is the source for these numbers.
2016 data would not have been weighted with 2016 census results for newcomers, indigenous populations, which have different NEET rates (higher for both? unsure).
LFS doesn't survey reserves /2

And LFS doesn't survey territories. And LFS undercounts newcomers, and small communities.
(56K people sampled for a labour force of 18.6M)
Indigenous and newcomers biggest source of growth in 15-29 year old population.
So it's possible .... /3

It's possible that the new, improved OECD stat, which now reflects StatCan's estimated % of 15-29 year olds not working, learning or training, doesn't accurately reflect what's going on.
#InclusiveGrowth is key to future #cdecon growth.
Measure this right, and move the needle.