Comparaison des estimations sur le revenu de l’Enquête nationale auprès des ménages avec les données fiscales québécoises

In 2010, the federal government modified Statistics Canada’s Census Program and replaced the long mandatory form with a new voluntary survey, the National Household Survey (NHS). This change raised many questions. In fact, several users are questioning the quality of the data on income, due to a high nonresponse rate combined with the voluntary nature of the NHS.

In order to inform Québec data users, this methodological report provides a comparison between NHS income estimates and data from an administrative file, i.e. the tax revenue file of the Agence du revenu du Québec (RQ). Comparisons are made at various geographical levels: administrative regions, regional county municipalities, and municipalities. Differences by age, sex, various indicators and income concepts are also examined.