Appendix II: More about the LFS

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Why use LFS data and who uses it?

The Labour Force Survey offers a wide range of timely labour market indicators. It also provides historical context, with data going back to 1976. LFS data are available on a monthly and annual basis, and seasonally adjusted data are available for many series.

The data are easily accessed online, in paper or electronic format, on DVD-ROM, or through special requests.

Some of the major users of LFS data include:

  1. journalists who want both background and current employment or unemployment figures for their stories;
  2. labour market researchers who want to study work patterns of a certain sector of the labour market like older workers, youths, women or the self-employed;
  3. consultants who need overall labour market trends for a large city;
  4. policy analysts who need to forecast employment trends for the next few years;
  5. economists who need to predict whether the economy will continue to grow and for how long;
  6. government departments and financial organizations who need to keep current with the latest labour market developments.

Geographic detail

LFS estimates are available nationally, as well as by province, census metropolitan area, economic region and some census agglomerations. It should be noted, however, that the smaller the population, the greater the likelihood of sampling variability. Data subject to high sampling variability may not be usable for decision-making purposes.

Information collected

The LFS collects both demographic and labour related data. Here is a list of the major variables available.

Demographic detail includes age, sex, education, marital status, family relationship and household composition.

Some of the major labour related data includes:

  1. employment
  2. unemployment
  3. full- or part-time employment status
  4. usual and actual hours of work
  5. employee hourly and weekly wages
  6. industry of current or most recent job
  7. occupation of current or most recent job
  8. class of worker (employee, self-employed, unpaid family worker)
  9. public/private sector
  10. union status
  11. overtime hours, paid or unpaid
  12. permanent/temporary work
  13. workplace and firm size
  14. school attendance (full- or part-time and type of institution)
  15. summer employment or unemployment for returning students
  16. hours of work lost, by reason
  17. job tenure
  18. duration of unemployment
  19. methods of job search and type of job sought
  20. reasons for working part time
  21. discouraged workers
  22. involuntary part-timers
  23. multiple jobholders
  24. retirement age
  25. supplementary measures of unemployment
  26. immigrant
  27. aboriginal off reserve

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