Labour Force Survey, September 2023 [Canada]

Included groups include: Canadian citizens; landed immigrants, or permanent residents; non-permanent residents, including work, study or ministerial permit holders and refugee claimants. Excluded groups together represent an exclusion of less than 2% of the Canadian population aged 15 and over. There are no questions in the LFS that ask respondents whether they are temporary foreign workers. Therefore it is not possible to produce counts of, or employment numbers for, temporary foreign workers from the LFS. If contacted for the LFS, temporary foreign workers will be included only if they identify the selected dwelling as their usual place of residence. In addition, they cannot be separated from a larger group of respondents who were not born in Canada and who are not landed immigrants. In 2014, the 'other' category represented 2% of the employed population and would therefore have a negligible impact on the overall employment numbers. Also included in this group are: Canadian citizens by descent who were born elsewhere, foreign students with a study permit, claimants of refugee status or family members of immigrants who are not landed immigrants themselves. National Labour Force Survey estimates are derived using the results of the LFS in the provinces. Territorial LFS results are not included in the national estimates, but are published separately. Most estimates associated with the labour market are subject to seasonal variation, that is, annually-recurring fluctuations attributable to climate and regular institutional events such as vacations, and holiday seasons. Seasonal adjustment is used to remove seasonal variations from almost 3,000 series in order to facilitate analysis of short-term change for major indicators such as employment and unemployment by age and sex, employment by industry, and class of worker (employee or self-employed). Many of these indicators are seasonally adjusted at national and provincial levels. Main labour force status estimates are also seasonally adjusted for census metropolitan areas (CMAs), and published as three-month moving averages to reduce irregular movements caused by relatively small sample sizes. At the start of each year the seasonally adjusted series are updated and revised according to the latest data and information for seasonal models and factors. The seasonally adjusted series are usually revised back three years. Adjustments are also made to LFS data every five years after new population estimates become available following the most recent census. At that time, all LFS data back to the previous census is re-weighted using the new population estimates (since the new population estimates will cover the inter-censal period between the two most recent censuses), and all corresponding historical LFS estimates are revised. Changes to the Labour Force Survey in April 2023: Sample size - In November 2021, Statistics Canada began implementing a 25% increase in the size of the LFS sample, with full implementation completed in April 2022. This increase had been paused for the last quarter for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. The sample augmentation resumed in April 2023. Supplementary questions - In January 2022, the LFS program was expanded to include a series of supplementary surveys to increase the range of information on quality of employment; and to allow Statistics Canada to measure emerging topics like hybrid work. These supplementary surveys had been paused for the last quarter for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. The monthly supplementary surveys resumed in April 2023.