Labour market and income data guide

Survey of employment, payrolls and hours

Description: measures payroll employment, paid hours and earnings of workers in most industries

Who/what is surveyed: firms and institutions of all sizes in every industry (except agriculture, fishing and trapping, private households, religious organizations and the military)

How the data is collected:
Information is collected from:
1. a census of administrative records from Revenue Canada for firms having 100 employees and more
2. a sample of administrative records from Revenue Canada for firms having fewer than 100 employees
3. a sample survey (Business Payrolls Survey) conducted to estimate the variables not reported on administrative records

Geographic detail: Canada, provinces, territories

Information collected:
1. employment (all employees, salaried employees, employees paid by the hour, other employees)
2. payrolls (all employees, salaried employees, employees paid by the hour, other employees)
3. average weekly earnings including/excluding overtime earnings for salaried employees, employees paid by the hour, and other employees
4. average weekly hours of employees paid by the hour
5. average standard work week of salaried employees
6. average weekly overtime hours of employees paid by the hour
7. average hourly earnings including/excluding overtime of salaried employees and employees paid by the hour

Frequency: Monthly

Sample size: 96,000 establishments

Data availability: data are available from January 1983

Reference period: the last seven days of the month

Release dates: preliminary data are published within 60 days of the reference period, and revised estimates 30 days later

Response rates: 85% (for final estimates)

What makes the data valuable:
• largest monthly business survey in Canada
• timely information
• extensive industrial detail
• detailed geographic data
• the only source of current weekly earnings data

Related surveys or data:
Before the introduction of this survey in 1983, three main sources were used to collect data on employment, earnings and hours: the Employment, Payrolls and Manhours Survey (ES-1—survey of large firms in commercial industries); the Employment Sample Survey (ES-2—survey of small firms in the commercial industries), and other employment surveys covering institutions and organizations in the non-commercial sector (GAP—surveys of education, health and welfare, and religious organizations). For information on linking survey data with the ES-1, ES-2 and GAP, please consult one of the labour market consultants in the Labour Statistics Division.

Products and services:

1. Employment, Earnings and Hours (Catalogue no. 72-002-XPB), monthly.

2. Annual Estimates of Employment, Earnings and Hours, 1983-1999 (Catalogue no. 72F0002XCB) (CD-ROM product)

3. Annual Estimates of Employment, Earnings and Hours, 1987-1999 (Catalogue no. 72F0002XIB) (Internet)

4. Annual Estimates of Employment, Earnings and Hours, 1983-1999 (Catalogue no.10-3009XKB) (kit, paper and CD-ROM)

5. Articles in Perspectives on Labour and Income,Catalogue no. 75-001-XPE, quarterly paper edition and Catalogue no. 75-001-XIE, monthly online edition.

6. Articles in Canadian Economic Observer (Catalogue no. 11-010-XPB), monthly

7. Articles in Industry Profiles (Catalogue no. 15-205M), annual

8. Services Indicators (Catalogue no. 63-016-XPB), quarterly

9. Articles in Industrial Monitor (Catalogue no. 15F0015XPE), monthly

10. CANSIM (Canadian Socio-Economic Information Management System), Statistics Canada’s publicly accessible database; for further information, please call (613) 951-8200

11. Data collected by the survey can be custom-tabulated to meet particular data needs on a cost-recovery basis.

Responsible division: Labour Statistics