Description: collected data on the income of individuals, families and households; provided statistics on income distributions, earnings of men and women, dual-earner families, low income rates.

Note: 1998 (1997 income) was the final year for the Survey of consumer finances. Commencing in 1999 (1998 income) cross-sectional estimates are derived from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics.

Who/what was surveyed: all persons aged 15 and over residing in Canada, except residents of the Yukon and Northwest Territories, persons living on Indian reserves, institutional residents and full-time members of the Armed Forces (exclusions account for less than 3% of the population).

How the data were collected: sub-sample of the Labour Force Survey consisting of 35,000 households; telephone interviews since 1988 (before that, personal interviews)

Geographic detail: Canada, provinces, size of area of residence (from rural to cities with 500,000+ population) and selected census metropolitan areas

Demographic detail: age, sex, marital status, family relationship and household composition, Canadian-born or year of immigration, and mother tongue

Information collected:
1. annual income by source
2. earnings (wages, self-employment)
3. investment income (interest, dividends)
4. government transfers (Employment Insurance, Old Age Security, Canada/Quebec Pension Plan, Social Assistance, Child Tax Benefit)
5. pensions
6. other income
7. income tax payable, refundable tax credits
8. annual work experience (weeks worked, weeks unemployed)

Frequency: annual supplement to the Labour Force Survey

Sample size: 35,000 households

Data availability: most data are conceptually consistent since 1971

Reference period: Previous calendar year

Release dates: data are published by the end of the collection year

Response rates: 80%

What makes the data valuable:
1. provides time series data on sources of income of Canadian individuals, families and households
2. can be linked with the full range of data from the Labour Force Survey
3. provides annual low-income rates
4. can link income and labour market data of individuals with family data
5. provides income distribution from before-tax and after-tax bases

Products and services:
1. Income Distributions by Size in Canada (Catalogue no. 13-207-XPB), annual
2. Family Incomes, Census Families (Catalogue no. 13-208-XPB), annual
3. Income After Tax, Distributions by Size in Canada (Catalogue no. 13-210-XPB), annual
4. Earnings of Men and Women (Catalogue no. 13-217-XPB), annual
5. Household Facilities by Income and Other Characteristics (Catalogue no. 13-218-XPB), annual
6. Characteristics of Dual-earner Families (Catalogue no. 13-215-XPB), annual
7. The Distribution of Wealth in Canada, 1984 (Catalogue no. 13-580-XPB)
8. Changes in the Distribution of Wealth in Canada, 1970-1984 (Catalogue no. 13-588-MPB, no. 1)
9. Pensions and Incomes of the Elderly in Canada, 1971-1985 (Catalogue no. 13-588-MPB, no. 2)
10. The Characteristics of Dual-earner Families (Catalogue no. 13-588-MPB, no. 3)
11. Articles in Perspectives on Labour and Income,Catalogue no. 75-001-XPE, quarterly paper edition and Catalogue no. 75-001-XIE, monthly online edition.
12. Articles in Canadian Social Trends, Catalogue no. 11-008-XPE, quarterly
13. Five annual public use microdata files are available that allow users to do their own tabulations on individuals, census families, economic families and households; the fifth file permits record linkage among the four data files.
14. CANSIM (Canadian Socio-Economic Information Management System), Statistics Canada’s publicly accessible database; for further information, please call: (613) 951-8200
15. Special tabulations meeting specific user requirements are available on a cost-recovery basis.

Responsible division: Income Statistics