Postgres \dt Functionality Changes from v9.4 to 9.6

You have to put the schema "data" in your search_path if you want the tables from that schema to show up in a \dt run with no arguments. (If your import worked, then you already have permissions to the schema, unless you changed users)

what is the benefit of a non-'public' schema.

A schema provides a standardized level of logical organization. If you've never used them, it's like asking what's the value of directories. You don't technically need to have them, but you can use them to

• Organize & Componentize
• Control access
• Reduce namespace-collisions

Also worth mentioning, the query planner can plan across schema boundaries. In the same sense that tools that operate on files can work across directories.

Perhaps more to the point of the Question you could explain that there is nothing special about the schema named public, just an arbitrarily chosen name for the default schema. – Basil Bourque 1 min ago

^ Valid point too. If you don't use your own customized schema, you're still using schema. It's just named public and placed in your search_path by default.