LMI Handbook
The Basics of Labour Market Information
Mission Statement - We build positive and lasting collaborations to identify community needs, facilitate
solutions, and advocate for the development of a skilled, inclusive and adaptive labour force in the
counties of Prince Edward, Hastings and Lennox & Addington.
The East Central Ontario Training Board (ECOTB) is part of a Local Board Network, comprised of
25 Local Boards across Ontario. ECOTB is governed by a volunteer board of directors and has a
jurisdiction of Hastings, Prince Edward and Lennox & Addington counties.
The Government of Ontario funds this Employment Ontario project. The views expressed in this
document do not necessarily reflect those of Employment Ontario.
ECOTB has prepared this guide using information from a variety of sources considered reliable. We make
no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to its accuracy or completeness. In providing this
material, ECOTB does not assume any responsibility or liability.
This guide is available in electronic format, contact [email protected] or
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Table of Contents
About this Handbook
What is the Labour Market?
What is LMI?
Who uses LMI?
‘Real Time’ versus Traditional LMI
Things to Consider
Demographics
Technology
Globalization
Economic Climate
Breaking the Codes
Industry Information – NAICS
Occupation Information – NOC
Staffing Patterns
COPS
The Geography of LMI
Sources of LMI
LMI TIPS
LMI by Source
Other Sources of LMI
Useful Terms and Calculations
Common Rates
Ratios
Location Quotient
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Labour Market Information (LMI)
About this Handbook
This handbook will help you understand Labour Market Information (LMI). You will gain a basic
understanding of LMI, its uses and terminology, as well as some basic calculations. This guide
will not make you a Labour Market Specialist or Statistician, but will provide a context that you
can build upon to better understand the labour market, and how to access information. This
Guide will be useful to: job seekers, students, guidance counsellors, corporate trainers, human
resource professionals, and community agencies as a basic guide to understanding the labour
market. It covers the main labour market terminologies and concepts, geographical boundaries,
availability and limitations of labour market data with a summary of useful resource links.
What is the Labour Market?
The Labour Market, like other markets, can be described in terms of supply and demand
components. The supply side reflects the number of potential workers and their characteristics
whereas the demand side comes from employers and is derived from their need to employ
workers to produce goods and services. The labour market is where those who need labour
and those who supply labour interact.
A labour market could be a community, a city, a region, a country or a larger area. The
boundaries between individual labour markets are, at times, fairly porous. This means that
workers may flow from one labour market to another. The amount of mobility existing across
labour markets depends upon such factors as: the degree of similarities between occupations
(in terms of job requirements and requisite skills); the costs of job search; the geographic
disparities between regions; and demographic characteristics that may affect one’s decision to
move (e.g., child care, a working spouse, etc.). The labour market can experience both
"shortages" and "surpluses". Typically this occurs because of skill mismatches, immobility of the
labour force and incomplete information about both workers and employers.
That data can be categorized according to supply and demand in the following ways:
Supply
Availability of workers by geography, occupation
and industry
Skills and educational level of workers
Workers’ characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity)
Demographic projections (retirements,
immigration, emigration and graduation rates)
Demand
Employment rates (geography, occupation and
industry)
Skill needs (education, credential requirements)
Job vacancies (by region, occupation and industry)
Occupational projections
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What is LMI?
LMI describes all kinds of information used to make labour market decisions. LMI provides
material and data about the labour market, with data from the past and present, as well as
future projections. LMI covers economic, social, demographic and labour force data. It
describes the characteristics of the supply of labour: the people who are workers or potential
workers in the market. It also provides information on demand: job opportunities in the market
and the needs of employers. LMI can be a compilation of detailed statistical data on jobs and
salaries, employers and employees, sectors, current employment conditions and future trends.
It may also include other kinds of information that inform labour market decisions, such as
emerging technologies, the workplace environment, working conditions and the cost of living.
Understanding and interpreting labour market information is an important decision-making
tool. LMI can assist in making decisions in staffing, setting policy, long term planning and career
planning. LMI includes a variety of data types, including general information on current trends,
national, regional and local statistics,
historical economic data, and
Good quality LMI helps us to understand the current labour
force, match workers with jobs, set pay rates, fill
projections of future employment
employment vacancies, train workers and carefully plan for
needs and trends.
transitions.
The labour market is not static and
changes over time. LMI can tell us what has happened, what is happening now, and what is
likely to happen in the future.
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Who uses LMI?
Whether you are involved in policy decisions, planning
your career, preparing a business plan, assessing
economic conditions in specific industries, looking for
advice, or advising others, developing the knowledge and
skills necessary to make sense of labour market
information provides a definite decision making
advantage. LMI may seem technical and complicated, but
many people are already using it every day without
realizing it. For example, if you are searching the job
listings seeking a similar job with better pay, you are using
a basic form of LMI. Most policy makers, larger enterprises
and economic development agencies have staff skilled in
LMI analysis. However job seekers, students, career and
employment counsellors can benefit from gaining a
greater understanding of LMI and benefit by making more
informed and timely decisions.
LMI users:
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Career and academic counsellors
Analysts
Curriculum developers, Educators,
trainers, facilitators
Educational Institutions
Policy makers
Job seekers (current and future)
Economic developers
Planners
Employers, Business, trade and
industry
Human Resource Professionals
Community-based employment
service providers
Product developers
Program managers
Unions
Federal, provincial, regional, and
municipal governments
Sector councils
Professional associations
Students
Access to reliable labour market information helps us
understand the current labour force, match skilled
workers to jobs, set pay rates, fill employment vacancies,
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train new workers, and plan for future needs.
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For individuals making career choices or planning their
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course of study, the most relevant LMI is about available
occupational options, training and educational
opportunities, the current labour market environment,
and future trends. For job seekers, LMI may be about job opportunities, skill level
requirements, working conditions, prevailing wage rates, and effective job search strategies.
Employers may use LMI in their recruitment efforts, training practices, investment and location
decisions, and collective bargaining. They can determine how readily they can find new
employees and how best to direct their recruitment efforts. While Educators find LMI useful in
forecasting student demand, determining what programs will be in demand, and developing
curricula. Moreover, governments may change policy and/or programming in response to
evidence of unemployment in particular segments or in specific regions of the country.
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A data focused method
Using a data driven approach provides a common reality
“There are three types of lies:
grounded in facts instead of perceptions. It provides an
lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
objective understanding of the real economic situation,
Benjamin Disraeli
and allows for direct comparisons to other regions. As a
result decisions are considered within a local context as
well as a broader perspective. The outcomes can be defined, measured and proven.
Study statistics with a critical eye. Case in point, the unemployment rate; a declining
unemployment rate can be interpreted as a sign of increased job growth and prosperity.
However, the decline can also indicate an increase in:
 The numbers of discouraged workers, those who remain unemployed but have ceased
looking for work and thus are no longer considered in the labour force
 the unemployed who have exhausted their E.I. Benefits and are no longer on the E.I.
listing
 those who have taken part time work out of necessity
Conversely the unemployment rate may surge in a thriving economy as more individuals who
were not previously part of the labour force start looking for work. The Participation Rate and
unemployment data should be observed in tandem to give a better understanding of the
overall employment status. Moreover, when using projections, remember that they simply
reveal what is expected to happen based on past performance.
Always note the date of the data since there may be a time lag between its collection and
release. Generally, ‘Real time’ or short-term data is gathered routinely on a monthly or
quarterly schedule. Technology such as web-spidering has made it possible to gather more
‘Real Time’ data, such as labour market information from job postings.
‘Real Time’ versus Traditional LMI
Real Time LMI is a relatively new source of information derived from web-spidering
technologies that pull down information from online job postings and resumes in online labour
exchanges on a daily basis. New technology allows easier and more comprehensive access to
this information. It can provide indications of supply and demand trends, emerging
occupations, current and emerging skill requirements, and market‐based demand for education
and certifications. These data are combined into an aggregated database after the web
advertisements are organized and de-duplicated (prevents the same jobs advertised on
multiple sites from being counted more than once). Already, some organizations have started
using the data to help match the skills of the unemployed with available jobs, or to help training
providers set up nimbler short-term educational programs to address immediate community
needs. For workforce and education planners and employment consultants tasked with
connecting the unemployed or underemployed with open positions, real-time information
holds obvious value. It can provide quick insights, through keyword searches, into the job titles
that employers are looking for and the skills that they demand.
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Real-Time data gives a glimpse into current trends based primarily on recent want ads and a
database of résumés. While the information is timely, it can sometimes be incomplete.
Traditional data, on the other hand, includes past trends and projections on hundreds of
standardized industries and occupations, all of which have been collected for decades and are
based on either mandatory tax records or mandatory employer participation in surveys. It’s
generally more accurate and complete than postings data — but not necessarily as current.
Three things to consider when using Real Time LMI
1. Not all job openings are posted online, possibly distorting the employment picture.
2. Deriving an accurate count of job openings posted online, comparable over time, is not
yet possible because current technology cannot guarantee the elimination of all
duplicates or find all ads. This can lead to an inflated picture of the job demand.
3. Few online job ads include complete information about desired skill and educational
qualifications. The best method is to categorize jobs by specific National Occupation
Code (NOC) and industry code (North American Industry Classification – NAICS). This has
a much better result by providing real-time demand for a particular occupation in a
specific area. Some firms are providing seasonally adjusted hiring figures.
Tip: For the best use of Real-Time data,
you should combine it with Traditional
LMI to provide context.
Keep in mind that traditional labour market data
also has inherent weaknesses. The sample size for
surveys can be small. Some sources are not updated
regularly, which causes a lag in the numbers that are
reported. Data for sparsely populated areas may be aggregated with that of larger urban
centres, tending to skew the statistics, masking trends and conditions occurring within the
smaller regions.
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Things to Consider
What constitutes valuable data? The critical pieces of
“Not everything that can be counted,
information will vary depending upon the circumstances
counts, and not everything that counts
we face and our desired outcomes. LMI can be broad or
can be counted.”
quite specific. It is important to be aware of the major
Albert Einstein
labour market influences. The combined influences of
demographics, technology, globalization and the
economic climate result in labour market trends. The process requires searching through many
sources, analyzing and interpreting data, and testing original conclusions.
Demographics
This is really all about people, their age, numbers, growth, density and distribution.
Demographics shape labour market trends. The supply of workers at any given time is
influenced by:
• population growth (or lack of growth)
• current and projected age ranges as a percentage of a population (i.e. aging
workforce)
• labour force participation rates
• educational levels
• the location of population (proximity to available work)
• rates of migration (between countries and within countries)
Visit http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/economy/demographics/projections/ for detailed
population projections
Example: Many rural areas have relatively older populations when compared to larger urban
centres. This trend is due to the large number of people born between 1945 and 1966 or Baby
Boomers, who are now beginning to retire, and a general migration of youth and immigrants to
urban centres. It is further compounded by a relatively slow population growth rate – a trend of
fewer children per household.
What could this mean?
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A diminishing labour supply as these people retire
Job openings in occupations to replace retiring workers
Opportunities to provide goods and services to seniors (housing, financial services, tourism,
accommodation, food and beverage industries and personal care)
Technology
Technology has revolutionized the workplace. Business and consumers alike expect results
faster than ever before, and expectations of job candidates have grown to include a comfort
level and familiarity with technology. This requirement is often referred to as ‘Digital’ or
‘Techno’ Literacy. Indeed, positions previously requiring low skills now demand the ability to
access, use and interpret digital information. In fact, there is evidence that low-skilled work has
been more affected by technological change than high-skilled work.
What could this mean in career planning?
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Developing computer skills is essential regardless of your occupational preferences. The
cross-sector usage of technology means that these skills will be transferable, allowing more
freedom to move from one occupation to another.
If technology is your thing, consider occupation in sales, repair, research and development
and training others to use new technologies.
Globalization
Technology has removed geographic barriers, which means that companies can now operate
around the world, 24/7.
What could this mean?
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There will be greater demand for multi-lingual employees
Companies will be operating with more flexible hours to accommodate
customers in other parts of the world (time zones)
Small companies will have access to the world market
Economic Climate
Acquiring an understanding of the national and local economy is an important LMI component.
This allows for a comparison of local conditions with other regions, and a realization of whether
the economy is experiencing a growth or decline phase, or perhaps a transformation.
We are witnessing a general trend in our economy – a movement away from an economy
focused on traditional goods producing industries to a more diversified economy with an
emphasis on service industries. Basically, the economy is divided into two sectors, Goods
Producing, those businesses making tangible products, and the Service Producing sector, which
encompasses everything else. Both can include a diverse range of occupations from highly
skilled to relatively low skilled jobs.
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Breaking the ‘Codes’
Information on industries and occupations is often reported within classification systems. These
serve to both standardize and organize the data, making it consistent, comprehensive and
comparable. On the employer and industry side, the North American Industry Classification
System (NAICS) classifies industries and business entities. From the perspectives of labour and
workers, the National Occupational Classification (NOC) classifies jobs based on industry as well
as education and skill requirements. Together, the NAICS and NOC codes define workers and
jobs in most industries, allowing for quick and easy data retrieval and a broad comparability.
Industry Information
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
NAICS is an industry coding system that is based on the supply side, or employer / industry side.
Created against the background of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), it
provides common definitions of the industrial structure of the three countries (Canada, USA
and Mexico) and facilitates comparative analysis of the three economies. NAICS classifies
industries and businesses into categories based on the processes, products and services that
they provide. This allows for the analysis of industrial performance, inputs and outputs,
productivity, unit labour costs and employment. NAICS can be used to identify long-term trends
in industry employment, as well as the number of workers employed in a given industry sector.
NAICS are revised every five years to modify or add industries to reflect constantly evolving,
emerging, or changing activities and technologies. The most recent revision is NAICS Canada
2012 and consists of 20 sectors, 102 subsectors, 323 industry groups, 711 industries and 922
Canadian industries. NAICS assigns a 6 digit code to every business establishment to provide
detailed industry information. This framework allows for statistical analysis and for comparisons
to be made about the industry mix and trends.
NAICS Structure
##
Industry Sector (20 broad sectors)
###
Industry Sub-sector (102 subsectors)
####
Industry Group (323 groups)
#####
Industry (711)
######
Specific (U.S., Canadian or Mexican National) (922 in Canada)
Example:
NAICS 311515
Sector
31-33
Subsector 311
Group
3115
Industry 31151
Specific 311515
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Manufacturing
Food Manufacturing
Dairy Products Manufacturing
Dairy Products (except Frozen) Manufacturing
Butter, Cheese, & Dry & Condensed Dairy
The first 2 digits identify the
broad industry sector, 3
digits define the industry
subsector, and each
additional digit further
describes the particular
industry.
The current NAICS includes 20 broad industry sectors as shown in the table below.
Code
11
21
22
23
31-33
42
44-45
48-49
52
53
51
54
55
56
61
62
71
72
81
91
NAICS Sectors
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting
Mining, Quarrying, And Oil And Gas Extraction
Utilities
Construction
Manufacturing
Wholesale Trade
Retail Trade
Transportation & Warehousing
Finance & Insurance
Real Estate & Rental & Leasing
Information And Cultural Industries
Professional, Scientific & Technical Services
Management Of Companies & Enterprises
Administrative & Support & Waste Management &
Remediation Services
Education Services
Health Care & Social Assistance
Arts, Entertainment & Recreation
Accommodation & Food Services
Other Services (Except Public Administration)
Public Administration
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Occupation Information
National Occupation Classification (NOC)
Occupations are defined as a collection of jobs that are similar in terms of activities or tasks.
Employees that perform the same tasks are in the same occupation, whether or not they are in
the same industry. NOC is a systematically ordered classification of occupations in the Canadian
labour market that standardizes occupational information in Canada. Its most basic task is to
classify occupations according to their skill type and skill level.
NOC allows for the collection of occupational and administrative data in addition to organizing
and describing thousands of occupations. It provides information on the nature of jobs, training
requirements, careers paths, wages, and job mobility. This is an effective tool for locating
information on the education and skills required for specific jobs. NOC can also be used to
identify average wage and salary rates.
The NOC system uses 4 digit codes to classify workers based on the type of occupation and the
education and skills generally required. The ten major occupation units are:
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
Management
Business, Finance & Administration
Natural & Applied Sciences & Related
Health
Education, Law & Social, Community & Government Services
Art, Culture, Recreation & Sport
Sales & Service
Trades, Transport & Equipment Operators & Related
Natural Resources, Agriculture & Related
Manufacturing & Utilities
NOC Skill Level Criteria - Education/Training And Other Criteria
Skill Level
1
2
3
4
Description
University degree (bachelor’s, master’s or doctorate)
Two to three years of post-secondary education at community college, institute of technology
or CÉGEP, or
Two to five years of apprenticeship training, or
Three to four years of secondary school and more than two years of on-the-job training,
occupation-specific training courses or specific work experience, or
Completion of secondary school and some short-duration courses or training specific to
the occupation, or
Some secondary school education, with up to two years of on-the-job training, training
courses or specific work experience
Short work demonstration or on-the-job training, or
No formal educational requirements
The first letter indicates the broad
occupation unit. The first digit indicates
the major category, the second the
education required and the last two
identify the position title.
Example
D-Health Occupations
D2-Technical and related occupations in health
D21- Medical technologists and technicians (except
dental health) – 1 = requires university degree
D217- Cardiology technologists
Staffing Patterns
Each business employs workers with different types of skills. Firms choose their staffing levels
according to a number of factors, including: the cost of labour; the productivity of the
workforce; the current and anticipated level of production; and the price that the firm can
command for its output. Job opportunities arise when firms expand their operations and when
firms replace employees who are leaving their jobs, such as retirees. A staffing pattern
summarizes this array of workers for an industry.
This allows us to connect industry data to occupational data. Developed by Statistics Canada it
reflects the distribution of occupations necessary to staff specific industries and can provide key
information about workforce demand. The costs of labor and equipment in a local area will
largely determine the mix of workers that a business will employ to remain competitive.
Industry staffing patterns are often used to determine the ability of a local area to support
economic development by being able to
Example - if the staffing pattern indicates that
provide a skilled workforce. This can be
ten percent of the workers in a grocery store
important for education and training
are in managerial occupations, then we can
providers or career counselors as it shows
anticipate that a new grocery store set to
which industries are likely to hire graduates employ 50 workers will need 5 managers.
from their programs.
Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS)
Future labour demand and supply is projected by broad skill level and by occupation, using the
COPS models. The focus of COPS is on trends in labour supply, labour demand to produce
detailed 5 year labour market projections for 33 industries and 520 occupations including
estimates of employment growth and
Note: the COPS analysis is non-student
retirements. These projections identify
employment only - the focus is on the permanent
occupations that may face labour market
labour market and as a result excludes those who
imbalances, either a shortage or surplus of
are employed while studying.
workers. You can search for occupational
summaries, more detailed data and technical
documents. In addition to assisting labour market analysts and policy makers, the projections
can be used in labour market information
Note: Occupational projections provide some
(LMI) products, such as Working in Canada,
indication about the medium-and longer-term
targeted at assisting in education and career
occupational demand, but they are less effective
decisions.
for painting a picture of the kinds of workers
that employers are seeking right now.
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The Geography of LMI
Key to understanding LMI is the appreciation of the role that the geography of the data plays.
The labour market can vary greatly from region to region. As a result it is important to know the
region or geography that the data is representing. There are several geographic levels ranging
from national to postal code area. Generally larger area data is readily available at no cost –
national, provincial, and regional. When data is sorted into smaller geographies such as county,
township or postal code, there is usually a cost. However these smaller sorts provide a much
clearer picture of a region or municipality and allow for comparisons with either a larger area,
often the province, or a similarly sized area.
Most people are familiar with counties, townships and even postal code areas however data
may also be analyzed by the other geographic descriptions. The Canadian census geographic
units are the country subdivisions defined and used by Statistics Canada to conduct the fiveyearly census. They exist on four levels: the top-level divisions are Canada's provinces and
territories; these are divided into secondlevel census divisions, which in turn are
Frequently, the challenge is finding information at
divided into third-level census
the local level, because often there is little
subdivisions (roughly corresponding to
comprehensive local LMI, and it can be prohibitively
municipalities) and fourth-level
expensive to generate custom sorts from the existing
provincial and national data.
dissemination areas. In some provinces, a
census division also corresponds to a
county or another similar unit of political organization, while in other provinces the boundaries
are chosen arbitrarily as no such level of government exists. Two of Canada's three territories
are also divided into census divisions.
Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) is a large urban area (known as an urban core) that,
together with adjacent urban and rural areas, has a high degree of social and economic
integration. A CMA has an urban core population of at least 100,000 people.
Census Agglomerations (CA) is a smaller version of a CMA in which the urban core
population at the previous census was greater than 10,000 but less than 100,000. If the
population of an urban core is less than 50,000, it is the starting point for the construction of a
'census agglomeration'.
Census Divisions (CD) are second-level census geographic unit, below provinces and
territories, and above "census subdivisions" and "dissemination areas". In provinces where they
exist, the census division may correspond to a county, a regional municipality or a regional
district.
Census Subdivision (CSD) is the general term for municipalities (as determined by
provincial/territorial legislation) or areas treated as municipal equivalents (e.g., Indian reserves,
Indian settlements and unorganized territories).
Census Tracts CMAs and CAs with a population greater than 50,000 are subdivided into
census tracts which have populations ranging from 2,000 to 8,000.
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Dissemination Areas are the smallest standard geographic unit in Canada and cover the
entire country. As small areas, they comprise one or more dissemination blocks and have a
population between 400 and 700 people.
Visit this site to see how all Statistics Canada data are organized by geography.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/mgeo/index-eng.htm?
Sources of LMI
Before you start crunching the numbers, become familiar with the data sources and how they
are organized. This will help you to better
Note: Understanding the data source and survey
understand the strengths and limitations of
methods, improves your interpretation of the
the information you are using.
findings, allowing for critical analysis and relevant
comparisons.
LMI consists of accessing many sources,
analyzing and interpreting data, using it to test
original conclusions and making future forecasts. Government of Canada agencies such as
Service Canada, Statistics Canada, Human Resource Services Development Canada, Citizenship
and Immigration Canada, and Industry Canada are primary sources of LMI. Not only is data
collected, but economists, analysts and other experts are employed to interpret the
information to make sense of the numbers for the rest of us.
There are many labour market and career related websites, and publications. The major banks
have economists on staff that publish very timely and detailed bulletins and newsletters. Many
organizations and associations survey their memberships and provide industry or occupation
specific information. For example the Ontario Construction Secretariat, Ontario Non-Profit
Network, and the Ontario Chambers of Commerce, each provide reports rich in LMI.
LMI includes a variety of data types, general
information on labour force trends, national
statistics, data from specific research/studies,
historical data on economic conditions and
projections of future employment needs and
trends for a nation, a region, or a specific area. Trends behind the numbers can best be
understood by examining a variety of data sources.
Note: LMI is generated by
governments, colleges/universities,
industries, organizations, and
individuals.
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LMI Tips:
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Date - Information is ever changing – always check the date of the information
Source - Choose your sources carefully – be aware that different groups have their
own objectives and biases when presenting data
Data - Read carefully - LMI comes in all forms of charts, tables, graphs, lists, and
percentages
Geography - Identify the region/area of the data
Use multiple sources - Consult as many sources as possible
Know classification categories - Occupation versus Industry
Be objective - Interpret statistics carefully, with a critical eye
Trends - Study and look for trends
Keep current - Check LMI sites and sources regularly
LMI by Source
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada is our national statistical agency and our most comprehensive source of
economic, demographic, workforce and education data. Statistics Canada regularly collects and
distributes national, provincial and regional labour market data through a variety of
publications, data sets and tools. The majority of this
Hint: Bookmark the most relevant pages
data is available at no cost, however custom orders or
and record the file numbers, particularly
sorts for specific regions or sub sectors will likely result
when using CANSIM information
in a cost. The volume of information is staggering; as a
result the website is relatively complex and requires
some practice to use it proficiently.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/start-debut-eng.html
Canadian Business Patterns (CBP) – released every six months (June, December) derived
from the Business Register Database (The Business Registry (BR) is an administrative database
maintained by Statistics Canada) is a complete, up to date and unduplicated list of all active
businesses in Canada that have a corporate income tax (T2) account, are an employer or have a
GST account with an annual gross business income of over $30,000. When combined with other
sources, information from the BR can be a valuable addition to the LMI system.
Provides:
o Counts of business locations, establishments and enterprises by; employment
size ranges, including "self-employment"
o Nine employment size ranges (categories by # of employees)
o Geography groupings: province/territory, census division, census metropolitan
area and census agglomeration
o Uses NAICS categories
Census – national survey, conducted every five years, includes both a population and
agricultural census
Provides:
o Employment information from a broader perspective
o Historic trends and ‘big picture’ information on labour market over time
o Population Based: Earnings By Class Of Worker, By Industry By Location
o Workplace Based: Employment By Class Of Worker By Industry By Census
Subdivision (Location)
o Workplace-Based: Employment By Class Of Workers By Industry By Occupation
By Location
National Household Survey (NHS) replaced the traditional Census long-form in the most
recent Canada Census May 2011 - participation in this survey is voluntary
Provides:
o A sample of approximately 4.5 million households
o Social and economic information such as child care, schooling, family services,
housing, roads and public transportation, and skills training for employment.
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Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) a business survey providing detailed
industry breakdown of employment and hours worked. Each month, Statistics Canada
combines the results of the Business Payroll Survey with administrative data on payroll deductions from Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The survey represents a census of employers,
although it does exclude employers in agriculture; fishing and trapping; private household
services; military personnel; and, notably for the not-for-profit sector, and religious
organizations. While the lag time is greater than for the LFS, the data are still quite current.
Provides:
o Valuable source of detailed information on the total number of paid employees,
payrolls and hours at industry, provincial and territorial levels
o Data for contract escalation and wage rate determination, used by Canada
Revenue Agency (CRA) to revise the maximum pensionable earnings and
retirement savings plan contribution limits
o Annual Employment by Industry by Province / Territory
o Annual Weekly earning by Industry, by Province / Territory
Labour Force Survey (LFS) is Canada’s best-known labour survey of households, monthly
collection (released within 13 days). Divides working age population into 3 classifications
(employed, unemployed and not in the labour force). The data produced are considered to be
key benchmarks for tracking Canada’s workforce and the Canadian economy as a whole.
Economic region data are also available within each province and for each census metropolitan
area (CMA); these provide insights on local labour markets.
Provides:
o Basic demographic information (age, gender, education) as well as labour market
activity
o Estimates of employment and unemployment
 Employment Rate
 Unemployment Rate
 Participation Rate
 Employment estimates by industry, occupation
 Annual Employment / Earnings (2 yr. rolling averages), Occupation,
Employees, Economic Region
Canadian Socio-Economic Information Management System (CANSIM) this data can
be browsed by subject, survey or table number. Tables can be downloaded in Excel.
Provides a wide variety of information:
o Demographics
o Education
o Economic accounts
o Energy
o Finance
o Health
o And much more
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Canada Taxfiler this aggregated data from personal income tax returns has a two year
release delay. Provides information on:
o Employment income, gender, location
o Government Transfers, type, location
o Employment rate
o Economic dependency
Annual Survey of Manufactures and Logging (ASML) analysis in Canadian Industry
Statistics corresponds with CANSIM Table 301-0006. This particular table consists of data on the
activities of all manufacturers in Canada.
Provides:
o Financial and production data
o # of establishments
o Employment
o Salaries and wages
o Manufacturing production
o Manufacturing costs, and
Tip: Use the electronic version of this Guide for
o Performance
easy access the linked sites.
www.focusontraining.com
Useful ‘Stats Can’ links
Labour Force Survey:
http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/pIX.pl?Function=getThemeSub&PItem_Id=97413&PCE_Id=4
38&PCE_Start=01010001&cc=1
Population: http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/subject-sujet/themetheme.action?pid=3867&lang=eng&more=0&MM
Education / Training / Learning: http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/subject-sujet/themetheme.action?pid=1821&lang=eng&more=0&MM
Families, Households and Housing: http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/subject-sujet/themetheme.action?pid=40000&lang=eng&more=0&MM
Statistical Profiles of Canadian Communities
http://www12.statcan.ca/english/profil01/PlaceSearchForm1.cfm
Industry Canada
Browse https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cis-sic.nsf/eng/home the Canadian Industry Statistics
(CIS) by industry to research employment in various industry sectors, find statistics, LMI
research and locate company listings. https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.nsf/eng/h_07064.html
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Employment and Social Development Canada (a.k.a. HRSDC)
Service Canada maintains a number of webpages with LMI, such as:
 Working in Canada site – explore careers by occupation at
http://www.workingincanada.gc.ca/occupation_search-eng.do
 Minimum wage database http://srv116.services.gc.ca/dimt-wid/smmw/menu.aspx?lang=eng
 Job Bank http://www.workingincanada.gc.ca/home-eng.do?lang=eng
 National Occupational Classification (NOC)
http://www5.hrsdc.gc.ca/NOC/English/NOC/2011/Welcome.aspx
 Employment Insurance (EI) Administrative Data
http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/sc/ei/index.shtml
 EI Monitoring and Assessment Reports
http://www.esdc.gc.ca/eng/jobs/ei/acts/index.shtml
 Temporary Foreign Worker statistics:
http://www.edsc.gc.ca/eng/jobs/foreign_workers/index.shtml
 Essential Skills http://www.edsc.gc.ca/eng/jobs/les/profiles/index.shtml
 Job Futures: http://canada.ca/en/gov/statistics/index.html
 Labour Market Information Service:
http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/about/publication/jobseek/lminfo.shtml
 Industry Profiles: http://searchrecherche.gc.ca/rGs/s_r?st=s&s5bm3ts21rch=x&num=10&st1rt=0&langs=eng&cdn=
service&q=industry+profiles
 Ontario Labour Market: http://find.gov.on.ca/?owner=tcu&lang=en&q=RESEARCH
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Other Sources of LMI
The following organizations tend to conduct very thorough and specific research and are well
worth examining as LMI sources;
 Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN) http://www.cprn.org/doc.cfm?l=en
 Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) http://www.occ.ca
 Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF) http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca
 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) https://www.policyalternatives.ca
 Local Workforce and Training Boards http://workforceplanningontario.ca
 Manpower Inc. http://www.manpower.ca/mp_ca/en/About-Us/Press-Room/NationalPress-Releases.htm
 Rural Ontario Institute (ROI) http://ruralontarioinstitute.ca/resources-reports
 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
http://www.oecd.org/
 Canadian Federation of Independent business (CFIB)
http://www.cfib-fcei.ca/english/index.html
 Financial Institutions
o TD Bank http://www.td.com/economics/analysis/economics-index.jsp
o RBC: http://www.rbc.com/economics/index.html
o BMO http://www.bmo.com/home/about/banking/economics-research
o CIBC https://www.cibc.com/ca/lrg-corporate/economic-updates.html
 Canadian Policy Research Network http://www.cprn.org/index.cfm
 Conference Board of Canada
http://www.conferenceboard.ca/topics/economics/default.aspx
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Useful Terms and Calculations
After locating available, relevant, accurate, and timely data, and downloading it, you still need
to make sense of it. Often additional analysis is needed or additional types of data, to make the
data meaningful to your needs. These are considered to be the main indicators of our overall
economic performance. They are often referenced in the media and government documents as
well as by researchers and economists.
Working age population – those aged 15 to 64 years are considered to be part of the potential
labour force.
Labour force refers to the civilian non-institutional population aged 15 years and older
currently employed or actively looking for work. It does not include the unemployed not
looking for work, those who are unable to work, those in the military, or those who are retired.
Labour Mobility refers to the freedom of workers to practice their occupation wherever
opportunities exist.
Employment Rate (ER) refers, for the most part, to the number of people who, during the
survey reference week, worked for pay or profit. The ER is the number of people in
employment expressed as a percentage of the relevant population (usually the working age
population).
Full time employment refers to individuals who work 30 hours or more per week in their main
job.
Part time employment refers to individuals who work less than 30 hours per week in their main
job.
Unemployment Rate refers, for the most part, to people who were without employment but
were actively seeking employment. The unemployment rate is the percentage of the labour
force which is unemployed – the number of unemployed as a percentage of the labour force.
Not in the Labour Force (NILF), are those in the working age population who are neither
employed nor unemployed. Retired individuals and “stay-at-home” moms and dads may be
examples of those not in the labour force.
Actual Data are simply data captured that have not been adjusted for seasonal variances.
Seasonally-adjusted Data smoothes seasonal fluctuations which means, that the time period
being described has been modified to remove any fluctuations caused by regular annual events.
(i.e. regular cycles such as crop seasons, production seasons, or major retail periods like
Christmas or Easter). Comparisons cannot be made between actual and seasonally-adjusted
data.
Participation Rate is the number of people who are either employed or are actively looking for
work. The PR is the labour force divided by the working age population expressed as a
percentage. It can also be defined by gender or specific age groups.
Unemployment Rate – the number of unemployed workers expressed as a percentage of the
labour force. This is the most often cited and most widely known labour statistic.
Birth Rate – the number of births per year as a percentage of the total population. It is most
often used to forecast labour force characteristics.
Job Vacancy Rate (JVR) number of vacant positions expressed as a percentage of total positions
(both filled and unfilled).
Attrition is the creation of job opportunities in the labour market due to the retirement or
death of current workers.
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Growth Rate is a comparison of specific data over time, usually in terms of demographics.
Location Quotient is the concentration of an occupation or industry in a specific region when
compared to another area, usually the rest of the province or the nation.
Total Income is the income from all sources, including employment income, income from
government programs, pension income, investment income and any other money income.
Employment Income is income only from wages / salaries and/or self employment.
Central Tendency is a statistical measure that identifies the single most representative score for
an entire distribution of scores. Measures of central tendency include:
o Mean – commonly referred to as the Average. This is the most widely used of
the central measures of tendency. The Mean for a distribution is the sum of the
scores divided by the number of scores.
Mean = Sum of all Scores
Total number of scores
Note: A single extreme value can significantly affect the Mean
o Median – is the value of the middle observation in the distribution, when the
observations (or scores) are ordered by size. Unlike the Mean the Median is not
susceptible to change by outlying values in the data set.
o Mode – is the group with the highest frequency or largest number of
observations.
Common Rates
A rate is similar to a percent distribution in that it allows you to compare the characteristics of
data sets to each other on an equal basis. A rate is usually one data set divided by another
usually at a time point and then multiplied by a constant (times 100, 1000, etc.). Percentages
are useful in reporting trends and statistics and permits comparisons across
groups/units/geographies.
Employment Rate (ER)
Participation Rate (PR)
PR =
ER = E / POP x 100
Labour Force
x 100
Population 15 yrs. +
Job Vacancy Rate (JVR)
JVR = V / (E + V) x 100
Unemployment Rate
Number of unemployed / (Employed + Unemployed) x
100
Birth Rate
Number of births in a year/ Total Pop x 1000
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Growth Rate
(V time 2 – V time 1) / V time 1 x 100
Example: Smallville now has a population of 25,345, while ten
years ago it had a population of 19,786.
Smallville Growth Rate = (25,345 – 19,786) / 19,786 x 100 =
28%
Ratios
Ratios are similar to rates. A ratio is the relation between two groups and is calculated by
dividing one group by the other.
Common examples: Gender Ratio (male to female) = Males
Females
Dependency Ratio = (Pop. Under 15 + Pop. 65 & over)
Pop. 15-64 years of age
Location Quotient (LQ)
LQs are a common measure of the relative concentration of an industry in a region when
compared with a benchmark area (i.e. the province or the nation).
In the following example, professional services makes
LQ Formula
up 60 of the 1,000 total jobs in the study region and
Subject Area
Industry / Total
450,000 of the 15,000,000 province-wide total, the
Industry / Total
location quotient for regional professional services is 2.0 Comparison Area
(=.06/.03). The LQ indicates there is double the relative
level of employment in professional services
employment in the region compared to the province. In this example, the LQ for professional
services is quite high…twice that of the province. This suggests a possible area of economic
specialization, especially if that sector has been growing (and is expected to continue growing).
Geography
Region
Province
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Industry
# of businesses
Professional Services
60
Total Industries
1000
Share
60 / 1000 = .06
Professional Services
450,000
Total Industries
15,000,000
Share
450,000 / 15,000,000 = 0.03
LQ = 0.06 / 0.03 = 2.0
LQ rule of thumb
High LQ
Medium LQ
Low LQ
> 1.25
between 0.75 and 1.25
< 0.75
East Central Ontario Training Board