Misleading Metrics

At SREDA's Fall 2010 Economic Forum, Mario LeFebvre of the Conference Board of Canada gave a useful caution for anyone using metrics to try to understand a system. Saskatchewan's unemployment rate has remeained remarkably stable, between 4% and 6% for the last ten years. (Visit Human Resources and Skills Development Canada for detailed stats.). These days, Saskatchewan is a booming have province and, looking this measurement, you might think that that must always have been the case.

But, knowledge about the system is more valuable than measurements of the system. In Mario's words, "The 5% unemployment rate is about the same in 2000 and 2010, but the underlying reasons are very different. In 2000, [Saskatchewan] had low unemployment because all the unemployed were leaving the province. Today, you have low unemployment because you're creating a lot of jobs."

Same measurement; very different meaning. Strive to look beyond the metrics and understand what in the system contributes to those metrics.