SLA-ZTA

Self-contained labour areas / Zones de travail autonomes

Self-contained labour areas (SLA)

A self-contained labour area is a territorial unit where most of the residents with jobs are working in the area and most of the jobs in the area are filled by workers residing in the area.

Zones de travail autonomes (ZTA)

Une zone de travail autonome est une unité territoriale où la plupart des résidents employés travaillent dans la zone délimitée et où la plupart des emplois sont occupés par des résidents de cette zone.

2016 Self-contained labour areas (SLA)

For the newest iteration of the SLA project using 2016 Census of Population data, it was decided to use only rural flows in order to both better align the SLA system with other standard geographies and provide more information on labour markets outside of Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) and Census Agglomerations (CAs). The graphic below shows the final result.

Documentation and Prior Use

• https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/21-006-x/21-006-x2008008-eng.htm
• http://guelph2016.crrf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/BVRF2016Alasia.pdf

How It Works

Self-Contained Labour Areas is a tool to create self-contained areas. It is designed to take a set of commuting flows between areas of any type and group them into clusters meeting a users definition for self-containment.

This is a experimental Python port of the original code implemented in SAS to create self-contined labour areas for the municipalities of Canada.

Usage

First, install SLAZTA:

$ pip install SLAZTA

Import the package into your program and call the clustering function as in the following example, using the default values for each variable:

import SLAZTA

SLAZTA.main('C:\\2011Flows.csv', 0, 2500, 0.75, 0.90)

The only variable required to run the program is:

• inputFile - a CSV file with three columns: RES, POW, and TotalFlow. Original RES and POW codes no longer need to be mapped to numbers from 1 to the total number of areas, but will be automatically mapped within the program and converted back before output.

Other optional variables can be used to customize the result:

• lowestPopulation - smallest population eligible to be a successful cluster, and value associated with highest required self-containment. Default 0.
• highestPopulation - largest population, used only for setting highest self-containment endpoint. Default 25,000.
• lowestSelfContainment - the lowest level of self-containment required for a cluster to be considered viable. Applies to the area with the highest population by default. Default 0.75.
• highestSelfContainment - the highest level of self-containment required for a cluster to be considered viable. Applies to the area with the lowest population by default. Default 0.90.
• outputName - the prefix that will be used for output files. Default "SLA".
• minimumFlow - the smallest flow that can be considered bythe program. Default 20.

Usage

Running the file produces three csv files with the prefix you selected or SLA by default. Those files are:

• SLA
• SLA-CLUSTERS
• SLA-CSDS

The SLA file contains all the areas and temporary clusters created through the process of running the program. Its main function is to allow you to track the formation of clusters and identify what connections were made in what order.

The SLA-CLUSTERS file contains just the clusters along with information on their employment statistics.

The SLA-CSDS file is a listing of all unique areas fed into the program along with their cluster designation. This file is the most easily used for mapping or analysis.

Variables

SLA Variables:

• Area – internal code used by the SLA program
• Code – your municipality code
• Type – type of area – 1 is clustered, 0 is not. That should be all you get in this file, the ones you referenced would only appear in the other two files.
• Cluster – the cluster to which it belongs. The codes are assigned sequentially.
• Succeeded – 0, 1, 5 – if an area was self-contained on its own even before clustering. 0 if not, 1 if it was self-contained but still had connections to other areas, 5 if it was perfectly self-contained and had no flows outside its borders.

Employment Variables:

• RELF - Resident employed labor force, or the number of residents of that area that are employed.
• WELF - Working employed labor force, or the number of persons employed within that geographic area.
• RW - Resident and working labor force, or the number of persons who both live and work in that area.

This code is created and maintained by the Centre for Special Business Projects, Statistics Canada.