Performance measures in Alberta's labour programming

Abstract

This study examined the validity of performance indicators used to monitor labour relations programming in the Canadian province of Alberta. Specifically, the study examined whether the indicators were meaningfully related to the government’s overarching goal of “fair, safe and healthy workplaces” and whether the assumptions embedded in each measure were true. Overall, the indicators were found to have definitional and causal defects. These defects suggested the indicators are not meaningfully related to the government’s overarching goal. Further analysis of the indicators suggested that, in some cases, they create perverse incentives for field staff and obscure important outcomes that bear upon government goals.