Survey of Self-employment, 2000 [Canada]

This microdata file contains survey data from the Survey of Self-employment. The survey was conducted in April 2000 by Statistics Canada on behalf of Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC). It collected data on the socio-demographic characteristics of the self-employed, as well as the hours they work, previous work experience, participation in dental, health and disability plans, income security, and their attitudes towards self-employment. Nearly one worker out of six was self-employed in 2000, and most of these individuals became and remained self-employed by choice, according to the first results from the Survey of Self-employment. Strong growth in the number of self-employed Canadians that was observed in the 1990s stimulated interest in self-employment. Among the existing sources of information on this topic,the most extensive is Statistics Canada article The Self-employed in the publication Labour force update (71-005-XPB, Autumn 1997, Vol. 1 no.3.) which portrayed the self-employed using data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the annual Survey of Consumer Finances, and the 1995 Survey of Work Arrangements. It provided a thorough picture of the basic socio-demographic characteristics of this population, but due to the lack of data it did not cover several specific aspects of self-employment. Human Resources Development undertook to enrich the data sources on self-employment by funding a survey devoted entirely to this topic.