Statistics Canada said the main cause of an incorrect job report earlier this month was a failure by staff to understand that an update to part of its processing methods triggered wider and unanticipated changes in its flagship survey.
“This change was perceived as systems maintenance and the oversight and governance were not commensurate with the potential risk,” said the report commissioned by Chief Statistician Wayne Smith and published Thursday in Ottawa. “Communications among the team, labour analysts and senior management around this particular issue were inadequate.”
The review follows the Aug. 15 correction of the July employment report to show a gain of 41,700 instead of an initial estimate of 200 new positions. Since then, Finance Minister Joe Oliver and Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz have expressed confidence in the agency’s work.
Statistics Canada said Aug. 15 the mistake was an “isolated incident” that was caused when staff failed to run a computer program that was part of a scheduled update to the survey. Canada’s dollar weakened after the initial job report and strengthened when the corrected figures were published.
The first time staff realized there could be a problem was the morning of Aug. 8 after the incorrect figures were published, the report said.
The report makes five recommendations to prevent a repeat of this kind of mistake, in areas of governance, testing protocols, diagnostics, documentation and communication.
Bloomberg.com
No comments:
Post a Comment