Appendix C: Data sources

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There are four main sources of data underlying the Human Resource Module (HRM). They are the Canadian Productivity Accounts (CPA) data in the Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA), the Census, the Labour Force Survey (LFS), and the Survey of Employment Payroll and Hours (SEPH). These are described below along with their main uses.

C.1 Canadian System of National Accounts

The CPA database in the CSNA provides the tourism industry group totals for employee jobs and hours worked, labour income, wages and salaries and supplementary labour income, for both full-time and part-time jobs. Comparable data are also available for self-employment jobs, but the income variable is the net income of unincorporated businesses. These totals are for all jobs, including those attributable to both tourism and non-tourism demand. The data are classified on a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) basis by province.

The CPA data for jobs are based, in turn, on the LFS estimates for the number of persons employed. This is adjusted to jobs by adding the second jobs of multiple-job holders.^{Note 1} Additions are made for employment not covered by the LFS (e.g., regular military, employed persons in the territories or living on Indian reserves, and civil servants working in Canadian embassies abroad) to reflect the total economy. Last, deductions are made to exclude those absent from work without pay during the reference week.^{Note 2} SEPH is primarily used to develop the industry allocation of the adjusted LFS benchmarks, although industry surveys and administrative sources (for example T4 slips)^{Note 3} are also used for selected industries.

The hours worked data include the following:

• hours actually worked during normal periods of work
• time worked in addition to hours worked during normal periods of work, and generally paid at higher rates than the normal rate (overtime)
• time spent at the place of work on work such as the preparation of the workplace, repairs and maintenance, preparation and cleaning of tools, and the preparation of receipts, time sheets and reports
• time spent at the place of work waiting or standing-by for such reasons as lack of supply of work, break-down of machinery, or accidents, or time spent at the place of work during which no work is done but for which payment is made under a guaranteed employment contract
• time corresponding to short periods of rest at the workplace, including tea and coffee breaks.

They exclude:

• hours paid for but not actually worked, such as paid annual leave, paid public holidays, paid sick leave
• meal breaks
• time spent on travel to and from home and work.

The hours worked data are adjusted to correct for reference week effects in order to estimate annual hours worked.

In the CSNA, industry totals for wages and salaries come from a detailed reconciliation of wages and salaries from survey data and T4 administrative data. Estimates for components of supplementary labour income come in part from the T4 system (e.g., employer contributions to Employment Insurance (EI) and Quebec and Canada Pension Plans (Q/CPP)), administrative data on registered pension plans and from Workers Compensation Boards, as well as other survey sources (for contributions like life, accident and health insurance).

It should be noted that adjustments for unreported tips are made to the benchmarks for several industries:

• Performing arts and spectator sports and related industries (NAICS 711)
• Amusement, gambling and recreation industries (NAICS 713)
• Accommodation services (NAICS 721)
• Food services and drinking places (NAICS 722).

The adjustments for tips are made on the basis of industry sales of alcoholic beverages, full service restaurant meals (no tips are assumed on fast food), and accommodation. There are additional, smaller imputations for the tips in personal care services (barbershops and beauty salons, etc.) and railway transportation (for luggage porters) industries.

It should be noted that the average hourly earnings are calculated in the HRM as wages and salaries divided by total hours worked. Because tips and pay for absences (sick leave, vacations, etc.) are included in wages and salaries, the hourly earnings include an implicit premium on top of the straight wage for both.

C.2 Census of Population

The Census of Population provides comprehensive data on the demographic, social and economic characteristics of Canadians. Detailed information was collected from one in every five households for census reference years 2000 and 2005. Given its large sample size, the Census serves as the most reliable source of information on occupational distributions. As such, data from the 2001 and 2006 Census are used primarily to distribute the CSNA totals for employee jobs, hours worked and wages and salaries across occupations by sex and age group, and between immigrants and non-immigrants.

The data used in these calculations are based on occupational distributions for persons who had employment income in the census reference years (in this case, 2000 and 2005). The self-employed are excluded in the calculations.

The samples are broken down into part-and full-time categories according to whether the weeks worked in the reference year were primarily full-time (30 or more hours per week) or part-time (less than 30 hours per week). Also, industry group and occupation relate to the main job held during the reference week (defined as the job at which the most hours were worked) or, if unemployed, to the main job held since the start of the reference year (defined as the one in which the most weeks were worked).

Tabulations for this study use the National Occupational Classification for Statistics (NOC-S) 2006 and NAICS 2002 for the 2006 Census and NOC-S 2001 and NAICS 1997 for the 2001 Census. Differences between classification systems do not affect tourism industries and occupations.

C.3 Labour Force Survey

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is conducted monthly and includes approximately 53,400 households, which translates roughly to a sample size of 100,000 people over the age of fifteen. The LFS collects basic labour force activity information including industry and occupation of employment for the survey reference week (normally the week including the 15th of the month), both for employees and the self-employed. It does not cover the territories, military personnel or civil servants stationed abroad, or persons residing on Indian reserves. Industry data are based on NAICS 2007, while occupation data use NOC-S 2006 for the entire period from 1997 to 2012.

The LFS is used here to develop the time series on jobs, hours worked and wages and salaries by occupation, age and gender for each industry group in the HRM. As mentioned previously, the LFS is used in the CSNA to establish overall number of jobs totals.

C.4 Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours

The Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) is conducted monthly. It collects the number of employee jobs and payroll data from a sample of establishments in Canada.

In this survey, establishments are coded by industry through the Business Register, thereby providing a reliable source of timely information on the industry distribution of employee jobs and payrolls. The administrative data are supplemented by the monthly Business Payroll Survey of 11,000 businesses. This survey collects data on employment, earnings and paid or usual hours, according to whether workers are paid by the hour, salaried or remunerated some other way.

SEPH data on a NAICS basis are available back to 1991. Data on the number of jobs, hours paid and earnings are used here to break down the CPA estimates so that they correspond to the definition of tourism industries used in the Canadian Tourism Satellite Account (CTSA). As mentioned earlier, SEPH is also used extensively in the CSNA to determine the industry distributions of employee jobs.

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Notes

1. Industry of second job is determined based on patterns observed for multiple job holders in the Survey of Labour Income Dynamics.
2. For more details on the current CSNA methodology see Maynard 2005.
3. Forms used by the Canada Revenue Agency for the employer to report the summary of remuneration paid to all employees who received salary, wages, tips or gratuities, bonuses, vacation pay, employment commissions and other remuneration.