Labour Statistics
at Statistics Canada
RIAL Workshop on
“Labour Migration and Labour Market
Information Systems”
Geoff Bowlby
Labour Statistics Division, Statistics Canada
February 25, 2009
Statistics Canada Labour Market
Information
 Many sources of LMI:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Labour Force Survey
Survey of Employment, Payroll and Hours
Census
Employment Insurance
Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics
Labour Income (System of National Accounts)
Labour productivity estimates (System of National
Accounts)
• Workplace and Employee Survey
2
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Statistics Canada LMI Conceptual
Framework
Population
(15+, in scope)
In the labour
force
Employing
businesses
SEP
H
WES
Employed
Jobs
Employees
Job
vacancies
Selfemployed
LABOUR DEMAND
3
Not in labour
force
Unemployed
LFS
Census
SLID
WES
LABOUR SUPPLY
(current)
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LABOUR SUPPLY
(potential)
Use of current system
• Labour Force Survey
 One of the world’s largest surveys
• Survey of Employment, Payroll and Hours
 Employment estimates based on a monthly census of
businesses
• Census of Population
 Covering 20% of the population, every 5 years
• Employment Insurance
 A monthly census of all EI records, for the LFS reference
week
4
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Limitations of current system
• Labour Force Survey
 Despite its size, cannot provide desired detail
• Survey of Employment, Payroll and Hours
 Limited set of variables
• Census of Population
 Frequency, timeliness
• Employment Insurance
 Not all the unemployed, only one week of the month
5
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Gaps in current system
 Many known gaps. Probably the largest are:
• Lack of small domain estimates (sub-provincial, detailed
occupation data) for the intercensal period
• No vacancy information
• Employment quality data
• Regular surveying of older workers
Other
•
•
•
•
6
Mass lay-off statistics
More regular, comprehensive EI stats program
LFS content, sample size
No coverage on-reserve
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Changes to the System
Labour Force Survey
• No major plans for content
• Possible move to internet collection
• Possible collection on Siksika First Nation
Census Labour (2011)
• Removal of unpaid work questions
• Expansion of travel to work
 More modes of transportation
 Duration of travel to work
 Car pooling
7
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Changes to the System
SEPH
• Major improvement to wage and hours data
• Expansion of analysis and dissemination
8
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