Labour Force Survey, September 2008 [Canada] [Rebased, 2023 Revisions]

The Labour Force Survey provides estimates of employment and unemployment which are among the timeliest and important measures of performance of the Canadian economy. With the release of the survey results only 10 days after the completion of data collection, the LFS estimates are the first of the major monthly economic data series to be released. The Canadian Labour Force Survey was developed following the Second World War to satisfy a need for reliable and timely data on the labour market. Information was urgently required on the massive labour market changes involved in the transition from a war to a peace-time economy. The main objective of the LFS is to divide the working-age population into three mutually exclusive classifications - employed, unemployed, and not in the labour force - and to provide descriptive and explanatory data on each of these. LFS data are used to produce the well-known unemployment rate as well as other standard labour market indicators such as the employment rate and the participation rate. The LFS also provides employment estimates by industry, occupation, public and private sector, hours worked and much more, all cross-classifiable by a variety of demographic characteristics. Estimates are produced for Canada, the provinces, the territories and a large number of sub-provincial regions. For employees, wage rates, union status, job permanency and workplace size are also produced. These data are used by different levels of government for evaluation and planning of employment programs in Canada. Regional unemployment rates are used by Employment and Social Development Canada to determine eligibility, level and duration of insurance benefits for persons living within a particular employment insurance region. The data are also used by labour market analysts, economists, consultants, planners, forecasters and academics in both the private and public sector.<br><br>This public use microdata file contains non-aggregated data for a wide variety of variables collected from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). It contains both personal characteristics for all individuals in the household and detailed labour force characteristics for household members 15 years of age and over. The personal characteristics include age, sex, marital status, educational attainment, and family characteristics. Detailed labour force characteristics include employment information such as class of worker, usual and actual hours of work, employee hourly and weekly wages, industry and occupation of current or most recent job, public and private sector, union status, paid or unpaid overtime hours, job permanency, hours of work lost, job tenure, and unemployment information such as duration of unemployment, methods of job search and type of job sought. Labour force characteristics are also available for students during the school year and during the summer months as well as school attendance whether full or part-time and the type of institution.<br><br><b>LFS revisions</b>: Labour force surveys are revised on a periodic basis, either to adopt the most recent geography, industry and occupation classifications; to use new observations to fine-tune seasonal adjustment factors; or to introduce methodological enhancement. Prior LFS revisions were conducted in 2011, 2015 and 2021. The most recent revisions to the LFS were conducted in 2023. The first major change was a transition to the National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021 V1.0, with all LFS series from 1987 onwards having been revised to the new classification. The second major change were methodological enhancements to LFS data processing, applied to all LFS series beginning Jan 2006. The third major change was a revision of seasonal adjustment factors, applied to LFS series Jan 2002 onward. A list of prior versions of this LFS dataset can be found under the ‘Versions’ tab.

加拿大劳动力调查（Labour Force Survey, LFS）提供的就业与失业估算数据，是加拿大经济表现最及时且重要的衡量指标之一。该调查在数据采集完成后仅10天便发布结果，是首个公布的主要月度经济数据序列。
加拿大劳动力调查是二战后为满足劳动力市场可靠及时数据的需求而开发的。当时迫切需要掌握从战时经济向和平时期经济转型过程中出现的大规模劳动力市场变化。
LFS的核心目标是将劳动年龄人口划分为就业、失业和不在劳动力市场三个互斥类别，并为每一类提供描述性与解释性数据。
LFS数据可用于计算广为人知的失业率，以及就业率、劳动参与率等其他标准劳动力市场指标。此外，LFS还可按行业、职业、公共与私营部门、工作时长等维度生成就业估算数据，且可与多种人口统计特征交叉分类。统计范围覆盖加拿大全国、各省、各地区以及大量省以下区域。针对雇员群体，还会生成薪资水平、工会身份、岗位稳定性、工作场所规模等数据。
这些数据被加拿大各级政府用于就业项目的评估与规划。加拿大就业与社会发展部（Employment and Social Development Canada）会利用区域失业率来判定特定就业保险区域内居民的保险福利资格、福利水平与发放时长。劳动力市场分析师、经济学家、顾问、规划者、预测人员以及学术界人士，无论公共或私营部门，均会使用这些数据。

本公共使用微数据文件包含从LFS采集的多类变量的非汇总数据，涵盖受访家庭所有成员的个人特征，以及15岁及以上家庭成员的详细劳动力市场特征。个人特征包括年龄、性别、婚姻状况、受教育程度与家庭特征。详细劳动力市场特征包含就业相关信息（如用工类型、常规与实际工作时长、雇员小时与周薪、当前或最近一份工作的行业与职业、公共与私营部门属性、工会身份、有偿与无偿加班时长、岗位稳定性、误工时长、在职年限）以及失业相关信息（如失业时长、求职方式与意向岗位类型）。此外，还可获取学年与夏季学期学生的劳动力市场特征，以及全日制、非全日制就学情况与院校类型等信息。

<b>LFS修订说明</b>：劳动力调查会定期进行修订，目的包括采用最新的地理、行业与职业分类标准，使用新观测数据微调季节性调整因子，或是引入方法学改进。此前的LFS修订分别于2011年、2015年与2021年开展，最近一次修订于2023年完成。第一次重大变革是过渡至《国家职业分类（National Occupational Classification, NOC）2021 V1.0》，1987年起的所有LFS序列均已按新分类标准完成修订。第二次重大变革是对LFS数据处理流程进行方法学改进，该改进适用于2006年1月起的所有LFS序列。第三次重大变革是修订季节性调整因子，适用于2002年1月起的LFS序列。本LFS数据集的历史版本列表可在"Versions（版本）"标签下查看。