Canadian Social Research Newsletter
January 13, 2008

Welcome to the weekly Canadian Social Research Newsletter,
a listing of the new links added to the Canadian Social Research Links website in the past week.

The e-mail version of this week's issue of the newsletter is going out to 1846 subscribers.

Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

Canadian Content

1. Indicators of Well-being in Canada (new website) Human Resources and Social Development Canada - January 2008
2. Eliminating poverty makes economic sense (By Ann Decter [Campaign 2000] in The Toronto Star) - January 11
3. Canadian TV signals going digital-only Sept. 1, 2011
4. What's New from Statistics Canada:
--- Labour Force Survey, December 2007 - January 11
--- International Survey of Reading Skills, 2005 - January 9
--- Education Matters: Insights on education, learning and training in Canada - January 7 (includes the following three articles:)
..... Literacy profile of off-reserve First Nations and Métis people living in urban Manitoba and Saskatchewan: Results from the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey 2003
..... Taking time off between high school and postsecondary education: Determinants and early labour market outcomes
..... Education Indicators in Canada: Report of the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (fifth edition)
5. What's new from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (Toronto) - January 11

International Content

6. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs
7. What's new from the Center for Law and Policy (U.S.)
8. Poverty Mapping Project : Global Distribution of Poverty (Columbia University)
9. Global Social Change Reports (The Global Social Change Research Project)
10. Tax Credit Policy in the UK and its Lessons for Austria (European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research) - January 9
11. Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion (CERC, Paris) Bulletin - selected recent content:
--- Gender equality (U.N. International Poverty Centre, Brasilia) - January 2008
--- Working out of poverty : A study of the low-paid and the "working poor" (United Kingdom, Institute for Public Policy Research) - January 2008
--- The economic security of older women and men in the United States (Institute for Women's Policy Research) - December 2007
12. CRINMAIL 947 - 10 January 2008 (Child Rights Information Network - CRIN)

January 2008
Indicators of Well-being in Canada
This new HRSDC website presents comprehensive, up-to-date information on the well-being of Canadians and Canadian society, and how that may be changing over time.
- incl. links to info about : Work | Learning | Financial Security | Family Life | Housing | Social Participation | Leisure | Health | Security | Environment

"(...) How many Canadians have a paying job? What levels of education do we have, and how does that compare with other countries? What proportion of marriages end in divorce? How long can we expect to live? Have there been any big changes over the last 20 years or so? This website helps to answer such questions. Developed by Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC), its purpose is to systematically present measures and report on various aspects of well-being that are important to Canadians."

Source:
Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC)

- Go to the Human Resources and Social Development Canada Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/hrsdc.htm
- Go to the Social Statistics Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/stats.htm

Eliminating poverty makes economic sense
January 11, 2008
By Ann Decter*
When Canada's First Ministers meet over dinner tonight in Ottawa, they'll sit down to the unusual opportunity to chew on an issue that has support from premiers of all political stripes. Along with dinner, they can take a big bite out of poverty. Any meeting focused on the economy and labour force requirements should take a hard look at the statistic that almost 12 per cent of Canadians under 18 are living in poverty. Meeting labour force requirements will mean ensuring all Canadian youth are prepared for the working world, and none are left behind with inadequate skills.
Source:
The Toronto Star

[ * Ann Decter is national co-ordinator of Campaign 2000, a coalition working to end poverty in Canada, and interim director of social reform at the Family Service Association of Toronto. ]

Related links:

Campaign 2000 Media release: Poverty Should Top First Ministers’ Agenda
January 10, 2008
Reducing poverty should lead the agenda of today’s First Ministers’ Meeting in Ottawa, says Campaign 2000, the national non-partisan coalition working to end child and family poverty. In an open letter, the coalition urged the First Ministers to use the meeting to take initial steps toward creating a national Poverty Reduction Strategy with targets and timetables.

Open letter to First Ministers from Campaign 2000 (PDF file - 32K, 3 pages)
January 11, 2008

- Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (D-W) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk3.htm

Canadian TV signals going digital Sept. 1, 2011
This consumer notice (below) is presented here as a public service announcement, because if I was confused (and I was), there must be others out there who are also wondering about the upcoming conversion (2009 or 2011?) from analog to digital TV signals in Canada and what it means to all of us. This is to help clear up a misconception and to ask a few rhetorical questions...

1. Misconception: As of 2009, your old TV will be useless when the new digital TV rules come into force in Canada.
Fact: As of September 2011, all over-the-air broadcast signals in Canada will in digital-only format and all analog televisions will require a converter box in order to receive broadcasts using an antenna. Canadians using satellite or cable services should see no change. The conversion to digital TV signals is taking effect sooner (in February 2009) for U.S. television stations, including those broadcasting into Canada.

More info:
CONSUMER NOTICE

Source:
ConsumerInformation.ca

2. Rhetorical questions: How is it possible that Canadians using satellite or cable services won't see any change? Won't they all have to trade in their analog boxes to receive the new digital boxes --- and won't they have to pay a higher monthly fee for that digital service, as is now the case? Will governments help with the cost of the new digital converters for families of the working poor, people in rural areas, those on fixed income and those on social assistance?
<Upon further reflection, these questions aren't so rhetorical after all. These additional costs will be a burden for many low-income households...>

What's New from The Daily [Statistics Canada]:

January 11, 2008
Labour Force Survey, December 2007
Following seven consecutive months of increases, employment edged down in December (-19,000). Over the year, however, employment was up an estimated 2.2% (+370,000), similar to the growth rate of 2006 (+2.1%) and the fifteenth consecutive year of employment growth. The unemployment rate held steady at 5.9% in December.

January 9
International Survey of Reading Skills, 2005
Canada has very few people who exhibit a really limited capacity in reading component skills, according to a new follow-up study to an international literacy survey.

Complete report:

Learning Literacy in Canada: Evidence from the
International Survey of Reading Skills (PDF file - 974K, 129 pages)
January 2008

January 9
Education Matters: Insights on education, learning and training in Canada
January 2008

*** Literacy profile of off-reserve First Nations and Métis people living in urban Manitoba and Saskatchewan: Results from the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey 2003
Research consistently shows that there is a strong link between literacy levels, education and labour market outcomes. This is especially true for the off-reserve First Nations populations in urban Manitoba and urban Saskatchewan, as well as for the urban Métis populations in those provinces. However, overall literacy levels remain low for First Nations individuals compared to their Métis and non-Aboriginal counterparts.

*** Taking time off between high school and postsecondary education: Determinants and early labour market outcomes
According to the 2004 Youth in Transition Survey, about 40% of 22 to 24 year-olds had gone directly to postsecondary studies following high school, while about equal proportions (30% each) had either delayed more than four months after high school graduation or had high school or less. This article asks whether having a gap in studies following high school matters for employment and earnings. In fact, it finds that it is completion of a postsecondary degree or diploma that matters most, not whether youth had delayed starting their postsecondary studies following high school completion ... more.

*** The fifth edition of Education Indicators in Canada: Report of the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program is now available. It provides a wealth of statistical information on education for the provinces and territories, including trends in enrolment and graduation at all levels, as well as trends for educators and expenditures in education. It also presents a broad statistical portrait of the school-age population and indicators on such topics as the school readiness of children aged four and five and labour market outcomes

[ Latest releases on education ]
[ earlier issues of Education Matters ]

- Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Fisheries and Oceans to Veterans Affairs) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk2.htm

What's new from the
Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) :

January 11

What's new online

School readiness: A marker that matters
11 Jan 08
- Report by The Learning Partnership discusses the status of early learning and school readiness for three to five year olds in Canada.

Center for Research on Children in the United States (CROCUS) website
11 Jan 08
- The Center for Research on Children in the United States (CROCUS) is a center at Georgetown University that focuses on research relating to children and public policy.

The childcare environment and children's physical activity
11 Jan 08
- Report from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill identifies aspects of the child care environment that relate to the physical activity behaviour of children.

An open letter to the premiers
11 Jan 08
- Open letter from Code Blue to premiers urging them to press Stephen Harper to use the federal spending power to expand ECEC services.

more WHAT'S NEW ONLINE »

Child care in the news

Advocates urge premiers to fight for child care [CA-ON]
10 Jan 08

Healthy diet for children belongs on daycare menu [CA-ON]
9 Jan 08

New daycare regulations will cost parents, warn operators [CA-AB]
7 Jan 08

Study spotlights 'exercise-friendly' day-care centers [US]
26 Dec 07

Child care main barrier to women in work [AU]
19 Dec 07

more CC IN THE NEWS »

Related Links:

Subscribe to the CRRU email announcements list
Sign up to receive email notices of updates and new postings on the CRRU website which will inform you of policy developments in early childhood care and education, new research and resources for policy, newly released CRRU publications, and upcoming events of interest to the child care and broader community.

Links to child care sites in Canada and elsewhere
CRRU Publications - briefing notes, factsheets, occasional papers and other publications
ISSUE files - theme pages, each filled with contextual information and links to further info

Source:
Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU)

- Go to the Non-Governmental Early Learning and Child Care Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ecd2.htm

Poverty Dispatch (U.S). ===> the content of this link changes twice a week
- links to news items from the American press about poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, etc.

January 10, 2008
* Census Small-Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE)
* Census SAIPE: Child Poverty by School Districts
* Dental Coverage of Children on Medicaid - Maryland
* Healthy San Francisco Plan
* States and Health Care Plans - Iowa, Oregon, Texas
* Homelessness and Housing First - Seattle, WA
* Subprime Lending and Race - Baltimore, MD
* Indiana Voter Identification Law
* Poverty and Student Achievement - Missouri
* Education Week's Quality Counts Report 2008

January 7, 2008
* Foster Youth and Transitions to Adulthood - Florida
* Medicaid Eligibility Restrictions
* Medicaid Reimbursement Rates - Indiana
* State Children's Health Insurance Program - Maryland
* Free Drug Samples as Safety Net for Low-income Patients
* Lack of Health Insurance and Health
* Homeless Families - Boston, MA
* Homeless School Age Children - Alabama
* Affordable Housing - New Jersey, Florida
* Voter Identification Requirements - Indiana, Minnesota
* Tax Refund Anticipation Loans

Search Poverty Dispatches
IRP compiles and distributes Poverty Dispatches, links to Web-based news items dealing with poverty, welfare reform, and related topics twice a week. Each Dispatch lists links to current news in popular print media. Persons wishing to receive Poverty Dispatches by e-mail should send a request to rsnell@ssc.wisc.edu.

Past Poverty Dispatches - back to June 2006

Poverty Dispatch Digest Archive - archive of weekly digests* of dispatches from August 2005 to May 2006
(*For a few years prior to the creation of this new web page for the Dispatch, I was compiling a weekly digest of the e-mails and redistributing the digest to my mailing list with IRP's permission.
This is my own archive of weekly issues of the digest back to August 2005, and most of them have 50+ links per issue. I'll be deleting this archive from my site gradually, as the links to older articles expire.)

Source:
Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)
[ University of Wisconsin-Madison ]

- Go to the Links to American Government Social Research page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (M-Z) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us3.htm

What's new from CLASP (Center for Law and Policy):

January 11, 2008 (this is a link to the CLASP What's New page; click the link if you wish to access any of the content below)
* Supporting Families, Nurturing Young Children: Early Head Start Programs in 2006
* Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care: Policy Framework Summary
* Child Care and Development Block Grant Participation in 2006
* Improving Access to Child Care and Early Education for Immigrant Families: A State Policy Checklist
* Selected State and Local Policies to Support Immigrant and Limited English Proficient (LEP) Early Care and Education Providers
* Campaign for Youth Mobilization Letter
* CLASP’s Breaking Down Barriers National Summit on Improving Access to Early Care and Education for Immigrant Families

Source:
Center for Law and Social Policy
The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) is a national nonprofit that works to improve the lives of low-income people. CLASP’s mission is to improve the economic security, educational and workforce prospects, and family stability of low-income parents, children, and youth and to secure equal justice for all.

- Go to the International Children, Families and Youth Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chn2.htm

Global Distribution of Poverty
For policymakers and academics alike, having access to information about the global distribution of poverty is crucial. Based at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, The Poverty Mapping Project at The Center for International Earth Science Information Network is a very fine resource for anyone interested in this subject. Understandably, the site provides access to dozens of maps which document the geographic and biophysical conditions of where the poor live. In the "Maps" section, visitors can look over 300 poverty maps offered at a number of spatial scales. Visitors will also want to peruse their nice publication, "Where the Poor Are: An Atlas of Poverty", which includes information about how some of this data has been used in poverty interventions. Persons looking for data for their own research will want to consider downloading the subnational and national poverty data sets that are made available here. Overall, it's a well-designed site and one which can be used in a variety of settings.
Reviewed by:
The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008

- Go to the Social Statistics Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/stats.htm

Global Social Change Reports
Excellent resources - well worth a visit for anyone interested in major world demographic, social, political and communication trends over the last several decades.

- includes the following resources (among many others):
--- Basic Guide to the World: Quality of Life Throughout the World (PDF file - 228K, 34 pages) - December 2005
This describes world and regional trends in infant mortality rate, gdp per capita, literacy, freedom, and world and regional life satisfaction. An html version http://gsociology.icaap.org/report/cqual.html is a brief review of global quality of life, major trends and regional comparisons.
--- Basic Guide to the World: Population changes and trends, 1960 to 2003 (PDF file - 183K, 11 pages) - October 2005
Presents graphs and tables showing trends in world, regional population.
--- Basic Guide to the World: Economic Growth, 1970 to 2007 (PDF file - 140K, 16 pages) May 2007
Brief descriptions of trends in economic growth, world regional and for selected countries.
--- Major demographic trends - summary of main demographic trends of the past several decades; changes in population size, population growth, infant mortality rates, age distributions.
--- Major social trends - summary of main socio-demographic trends of the past several decades; changes in urbanization, education and ethnolinguistic fractionalization.
--- much more (major political trends, major economic trends, major technological trends: communication, energy production and consumption, context of change in the 21st century
- also includes free datasets, free online statistical tools, useful public domain and other free to use data, etc.

Source:
The Global Social Change Research Project
- links to online books, manuals and guides about evaluation and social research methods, such as surveys, observations, and others
- links to sites about data quality, statistical analysis, and free software such as statistical, office suites, spreadsheets and more.
- links to many sites with research or data about globalization, democracy and freedom and other related topics.

- Go to the Social Research Links in Other Countries (Non-Government) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/internatngo.htm
- Go to the Social Statistics Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/stats.htm

Tax Credit Policy in the UK and its Lessons for Austria (PDF file - 188K, 13 pages)
Policy Brief by Asghar Zaidi
January 2008
This Policy Brief summarises the policy experience of the tax credit system in the United Kingdom, with the aim to understand better the challenges underlying the tax credit policy to be initiated in Austria. Perhaps the strongest message for Austria is: "keep it simple", as the benefit simplicity will help to effectively implement, monitor and evaluate the experience of the tax credit policy. It is also imperative that a good and tested IT system is put in place before introducing the scheme. The success of the tax credit policy in Austria will also depend on the contextual factors, such as the interplay with other tax and benefit and labour market policies, wage setting arrangements, etc, and more background research on the effect of these factors will be useful. A pragmatic approach would be to introduce, in the first instance, a tax credit scheme for specific subgroups, such as lone parent families and working age persons with disabilities.

Source:
European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research
The European Centre is a UN-affiliated intergovernmental organization concerned with all aspects of social welfare policy and research.

- Go to the Government Social Research Links in Other Countries page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/internat.htm

From the Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion - Paris
Conseil de l'emploi, des revenus et de la cohésion sociale - CERC [version française]

Selected content from Bulletin N°144 (January 7, 2008)
(click on the bulletin link above to access the studies mentioned below and more...)

. Gender equality (PDF file - 543K, 28 pages), U.N. International Poverty Centre, Brasilia, January 2008 (International data)

. Working out of poverty : A study of the low-paid and the "working poor" (PDF file - 896K, 65 pages) - (United Kingdom), G. Cooke and K. Lawton, Institute for Public Policy Research, London, January 2008

. The economic security of older women and men in the United States (PDF file - 969K, 8 pages), T. Finkle, H. Hartmann, and S. Lee, Institute for Women's Policy Research, Washington, December 2007

CERC Bulletin - links to all CERC semi-monthly bulletins
Subscribe - To be informed of CERC activities and to receive the bulletin

Online Information Service
Information and online resources organized under five themes: Poverty * Social minima * In-work benefits * Minimum wage * Unemployment and return to work .
- includes links and resources for Canada...
TIP: click on the links in the right-hand margin of each theme page for more content

CERC Bulletins/Reports/Studies/Working papers
- Click on the links in the left margin of the CERC website home page for access to a large collection of online resources

- Go to the Government Social Research Links in Other Countries page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/internat.htm

From the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN)

10 January 2008 - CRINMAIL 947
* INDIA: Govt rapped for delaying child rights panel [news]
* TURKEY: Forced child marriage not properly punished [news]
* LATIN AMERICA: 60 million children lack drinking water [news]
* PAKISTAN: Child sexual exploitation and trafficking conference [event]
* UNICEF: Adolescents and Civil Engagement: Social Engagement and Young People [publication]
* EUROPEAN UNION: Call for members of the fundamental rights Scientific Committee [call for applications]
**NEWS IN BRIEF**
**QUIZ**

Earlier issues of CRINMAIL
- links to 200+ earlier weekly issues, many of which are special editions focusing on special themes, such as the 45th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Source:
CRINMAIL(incl. subscription info)
[ Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) ]

- Go to the Children's Rights Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnrights.htm

Disclaimer/Privacy Statement

Both Canadian Social Research Links (the site) and this Canadian Social Research Newsletter belong solely to me, Gilles Séguin.

I am solely accountable for the choice of links presented therein and for the occasional editorial comment - it's my time, my home computer, my experience, my biases, my Rogers Internet account and my web hosting service.

I administer the mailing list and distribute the weekly newsletter using software on the web server of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Thanks, CUPE!

If you wish to subscribe to the e-mail version of newsletter, go to the Canadian Social Research Newsletter Online Subscription page:
http://lists.cupe.ca/mailman/listinfo/csrl-news

You can unsubscribe by going to the same page or by sending me an e-mail message [ gilseg@rogers.com ]

------------------------

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Privacy Policy:
The Canadian Social Research Newsletter mailing list is not used for any purpose except to distribute each weekly issue.
I promise not share any information on this list, nor to send you any junk mail.

Links presented in the Canadian Social Research Newsletter point to different views about social policy and social programs.
There are some that I don't agree with, so don't get on my case, eh...

To access earlier online HTML issues of the Canadian Social Research Newsletter, go to the Newsletter page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/news.htm

Please feel free to distribute this newsletter as widely as you wish, but please remember to mention Canadian Social Research Links when you do.

Cheers!
Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com

In closing...

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