Table 8.1
Features of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the
Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH)
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| Comparison by | LFS | SEPH |
|---|---|---|
| Population | Non-institutionalized civilian population aged 15 and over. | Non-farm wage and salary jobs. |
| Type of survey | Monthly sample survey of approximately 56,000 households. | Monthly census of businesses (from administrative data), plus a survey of 15,000 establishments for the earnings. |
| Major outputs | Labour force, employment, unemployment, by province, and associated rates with demographic details. | Employment, earnings and hours with industry and geographic details. |
| Reference period | Calendar week that includes the 15 th of the month. 1 | The last seven days of the month. 2 |
| Employment concept | Estimate of employed persons (multiple jobholders are counted only once). Includes individuals absent from work without pay. | Number of jobs (multiple jobholders counted for each non-farm payroll job). Includes only those receiving pay for the reference period. |
| Employment definition differences | Includes the unincorporated self-employed, unpaid family workers, agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, religious organization workers, private household workers, international and other extraterritorial public administration and workers absent without pay. | Excludes all of the groups listed in the column to the left, except for forestry, logging and support activities for forestry. |
| Size of month-to-month change in employment for a statistically significant movement | +/- 46,000 for 90% confidence (updated twice a year). | Based on a census, so there is no statistical uncertainty associated with the employment estimates. |
| Benchmark adjustment to survey results | No direct benchmark for employment. Adjustment to underlying population every 5 years to the Canadian Census. | No benchmark adjustment. |
Except for November and December, when the
reference week is often one week earlier.
In fact, there is a mix of different periods,
since pay period lengths and dates vary between employers and even between
groups of employees working for the same employer. In all cases, the information
for the most recent pay period is used in processing the administrative data.
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