| Variable
|
Original
variable |
Notes |
I.
DEMOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND (DB) |
| DB01 |
relrefn |
The Canadian LFS does not provide data on a household basis.
Rather, data are collected for individuals and economic families (see note to
variable DB12 below).
The reference person - designated by the respondent at the time of interview - is normally
an adult with responsibility for the care or support of the family. |
| DB02 |
sex |
|
| DB03 |
age_6, age_12 |
Age is released in grouped categories for confidentiality reasons.
Note that the age categories are not uniform in size. |
| DB04 |
marstat |
|
| DB05 |
|
* |
| DB06 |
|
* |
| DB07 |
|
* |
| DB08 |
|
* |
| DB09 |
prov |
The province (and not the region inside the province) is given |
| DB10 |
cma |
This variable records the fact of living in one of the three
largest Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs). The CMAs are labour market area with an
urbanized core having at least 100,000 inhabitants, which are generally known by the name
of the urban area forming the urbanized core. CMAs include: 1) municipalities completely
or partly inside the urbanized core; and 2) other municipalities if (a) at least 40% of
the employed labour force living in the municipality works in the urbanized core
(commuting flow to the urbanized core), or (b) at least 25% of the employed labour force
working in the municipality lives in the urbanized core (commuting flow from the urbanized
core) |
| DB11 |
|
* |
| DB12 |
efamtype |
The LFS identifies families according to the criteria for
"Economic families": a group of two or more persons who live in the same
dwelling and who are related by blood, marriage (including common-law) or adoption. A
person living alone or who is related to no one else in the dwelling where he or she lives
is classified as an unattached individual (DB12=1) |
| DB13 |
efamsize |
|
| DB14 |
|
* |
| DB15 |
efamempl |
|
| DB16 |
|
* |
| DB17 |
|
* |
| II. WORK STATUS (WS) |
| WS01 |
lfsstat |
WS01=3 means 'person on temporary layoff'. According to the
definition of Statistics Canada, persons on temporary layoff are employees who did not
work during the reference week because they had been temporarily released by their
employer due to business conditions (not enough work, drop in orders or sales, retooling,
etc.). To be considered as such, they must have a definite date to return to work, or an
indication from their employer that they will be recalled in the future, and they must be
available for work during the reference week. Persons on temporary layoff are counted as unemployed
without being required to undertake any job search. |
| WS02 |
yabsent, lfsstat |
|
III. EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS -
FIRST (MAIN) JOB (FJ)
"Main job" is defined as the job or business at which the person
usually works the most hours |
| FJ01 |
|
* |
| FJ02 |
cowmain |
|
| FJ02b |
cowmain, permtemp |
This variable records, in the case of Canada, all possible
combinations between the 'status in employment' and the 'job permanency' information.
FJ02b=9, 10 includes the working owners of and incorporated business, farm or professional
practice, with (9) or without (10) paid help.
FJ02b=11, 12 includes the working owners of a business, farm or professional practice that
is not incorporated and self-employed persons who do not have a business (for example,
baby-sitters, newspaper carriers), with (11) or without (12) paid help.
For the definition of public/private sector, see note at variable FJ05
For the definition of permanent/temporary, see note at variable FJ10 |
| FJ03 |
sic80_47 |
The SIC classification is released in 47 categories to protect
confidentiality |
| FJ04 |
soc80_49 |
The SOC classification is released in 49 categories to protect
confidentiality |
| FJ05 |
cowmain |
The public sector includes employees in public administration at
the federal, provincial and municipal levels, as well as in Crown corporations, liquor
control boards and other government institutions, such as schools, government owned
hospitals and public libraries. The private sector comprises those individuals who work as
employees of a private firm or business.
In the category FJ03=3 'other', the self-employed and the unpaid family workers are
included. |
| FJ06 |
estsize |
This information is available for the employees only (FJ02==3), not
for the self-employed with employees and for the unpaid family workers, who therefore have
a missing value. |
| FJ07 |
|
* |
| FJ08 |
tenure |
|
| FJ09 |
ftptmain, whyptnew |
Full-time employment consists of persons who usually work 30 hours
or more per week at their main or only job. Part-time employment consists of persons who
usually work less than 30 hours per week at their main or only job. Note that prior to
1996 full-time and part-time had been defined according to usual hours at all jobs, and
those who considered their work schedule of less than 30 hours per week to be full-time
work were classified as full-time workers. In January 1996 the definition was revised.
FJ09=4 includes those who could not find a full-time job, irrespective of actual search
activities they may have done (i.e. both those who have looked for full-time and those who
did not have been included in this category)
FJ09=5 includes those who declare of working part-time because of personal preference.
Those who declare of having chosen a part-time job for 'caring for own children' have been
kept distinct (FJ09=8) from those who have done it for 'other personal or family
responsibilities', classified in FJ09=6 ('other reasons') |
| FJ10 |
permtemp |
A permanent job is one that is expected to last as long as the
employee wants it, given that business conditions permit. That is, there is no
predetermined termination date.
A temporary job has a predetermined end date, or will end as soon as a specified project
is completed.
The reason for temporary contract is not given; information on the type of temporary
contract is instead collected to allow the sub-classification of temporary jobs into three
groups: seasonal; temporary, term or contract, including work done through a temporary
help agency; casual and other temporary job. This information is made available at
variable FJ02b. |
| FJ11 |
|
* |
| FJ12 |
uhrsmain |
The usual hours for employees refers to their normal paid or
contract hours, not counting any overtime; for the self-employed and unpaid family workers
the usual hours are instead defined as the number of hours usually worked by the
respondent in a typical week, regardless of whether they are paid. This latter definition
applied also to the employees before January 1997.
In the case of persons for whom the number of hours worked varies from week to week, the
usual hours worked are calculated as the average of the hours worked in the last 4 week.
However, we do not know who these workers are. |
| FJ13 |
ahrsmain |
The number of hours actually worked by the respondent during the
reference week includes both paid and unpaid hours.
Note that 50 individuals have FJ13=0 and nevertheless they have worked during the
reference week in another job (second job - see SJ06) |
| FJ14 |
yabsent, yaway |
The reason for part-week absence is collected for employees only.
This means that, out of the 3511 missing values in FJ14, only 1689 are 'true missing';
1822 refer instead to self-employed or unpaid family workers that were absent part-week
and that were not asked for the specific reason. The reason for full-week absence is
instead collected for all employed persons.
FJ14=7 means more precisely "working short-time";
FJ14=10 means "for personal or family responsibilities", but not necessarily 'a
special leave';
FJ14=11 includes "bank holidays" as well. |
| FJ15 |
|
* |
| FJ16 |
|
* |
| FJ17 |
|
* |
| FJ18 |
|
* |
| FJ19 |
|
* |
| FJ20 |
|
* |
| FJ21 |
|
* (individuals who have a job or business are not asked about
possible search activity) |
| VI. INFORMATION ABOUT SECOND JOB
(SJ) |
| SJ01 |
mjh |
|
| SJ02 |
|
* |
| SJ03 |
|
* |
| SJ04 |
|
* |
| SJ05 |
|
* |
| SJ06 |
atothrs, ahrsmain |
The information available in the Canadian dataset refers to the
total number of hours worked in the reference week in the main job - on the one side - and
on all jobs - on the other side. Therefore, variable SJ06 refers not only to second job,
but also to a possible third job, even if this latter possibility must be not very common |
| SJ07 |
|
* |
V. PREVIOUS WORK EXPERIENCE OF
PERSONS NOT IN EMPLOYMENT (PE)
Note: information about last job is available only for those who last worked
within last year, i.e. within last 12 months. However, information about the duration of
joblessness is available for everybody (variable PE05) |
| PE01 |
everwork |
Given that information about last job held for persons not
currently employed is available only for individuals who last worked within last year, the
two categories "last worked withing last year" (PE01=1) and "last worked
more than 1 year ago" (PE01=2) have been kept distinct. To obtain the LES standard
classification for PE01 (0/1) you have therefore to recode PE01 2=1. |
| PE02 |
cowmain |
|
| PE03 |
sic80_47 |
The SIC classification is released in 47 categories to protect
confidentiality |
| PE04 |
soc80_49 |
The SOC classification is released in 49 categories to protect
confidentiality |
| PE05 |
durjless |
Information about duration of joblessness is available for everybody
who worked in the past. |
| PE06 |
whyleftn |
Category PE06=0 includes all workers that lost their job because of
firm related reasons (company moved or went out of business, the worker was dismissed
because of the business conditions) and because of individual dismissal as well.
No distinction is made between 'early' and 'normal' retirement; therefore all retired
individuals have been classified in PE06=6.
PE06=8, 'resigned', means more precisely 'left job because dissatisfied'.
Three new categories have been kept distinct (PE06=10, 11, 12). |
VI. SEARCH FOR EMPLOYMENT (SE)
Job search questions are not asked to individuals who have a job (FJ21 not
available) |
| SE01 |
lfsstat, ynolook |
Those who are not in the labour force because they are unable to
work are not asked about job search activity. Moreover, those who are older than 64 and
declare not being looking for a job are not asked about the reason. Given that - according
to the LES variable structure - this variable applies also to these two groups of persons,
they are coded SE01=10 "person is not seeking employment, no reason given". For
many of these individuals, the actual reason is probably SE01=7, but we have no explicit
information about that.
Attention! Those in temporary lay-off, who are not asked about search activity (see note
at variable WS01), have been coded as SE01=10, to distinguish them from those who are
'waiting for a recall or reply', coded as SE01=3. Persons on temporary lay-off may be
easily singled out by looking at variable WS01. |
| SE02 |
|
Those who have already found a job to start later, are not asked
about the type of weekly hours desired in the new job.
Moreover, only the distinction part-time/full-time job is asked for (no information about
self-employment and no information about "first-best" and "second
best" hours regime) |
| SE03 |
durunemp |
|
| SE04 |
lkpubag, lkemploy, lkrels, lkatads, lkansads, lkother |
The individual is asked whether he/she has used
the 6 methods of search listed in the questionnaire, not only about 'the first three
methods'. It may be possible, therefore, that up to 6 methods are indicated, though this
latter is a not very common case. When the individual indicates more than 3 methods, three
of them have been randomly selected, giving preference to the active methods.
SE04, SE04b and SE04c are therefore listed with no order of importance.
The method "checked with private agencies" is a low use method and is included
by the CSO in the category "other methods". |
| SE04b |
lkpubag, lkemploy, lkrels, lkatads, lkansads, lkother |
| SE04c |
lkpubag, lkemploy, lkrels, lkatads, lkansads, lkother |
| SE05 |
ynolook |
This question does not apply to individuals on lay-off and to
persons older than 64 who are not looking for a job |
| SE06 |
availabl |
Availability to work refers - in the Canadian questionnaire - to
the reference week and not to the following 2 weeks. Precisely, the question is
"Could you have worked last week if you had been recalled/if a suitable job had been
offered?"
This question is not asked to those who are willing to work but are not looking for a job
because they think that no work is available. |
| SE07 |
prioract |
|
| SE08 |
lkpubag |
This variable does not capture
"registration/non-registration" at the public employment office, nor receipt of
benefits, but simply the fact that the individual checked or not for a job with a public
employment agency in the 4 weeks preceeding the interview. In fact it replicates variables
SE04, SE04b and SE04c. However, variable SE08 pick all the individuals who checked
with a public employment agency, while variables SE04, SE04b and SE04c may not give this
information if an individual used more than 3 methods and checking with a public
employment agency was not randomly selected. |
| SE08b |
|
* |
| SE09 |
whyleftn, flowunem |
This variable records the status before looking for work, the
hypothesis being that this status motivates the searching activity. In categories
SE09=1-5, the reason of for leaving last job is recorded for those who move from
employment into unemployment directly. In categories SE09=11-13, the classification of
the unemployed in 'new entrant', 're-entrant one year or less after leaving last job' and
're-entrant more than one year after leaving last job' is made for those who move from
out-of-the labour force into unemployment. For those who last worked less than one
year ago, the reason for leaving last job is recorded in variable PE06 |
| VII. SITUATION OF INACTIVE PERSONS
(IA) |
| IA01 |
lfsstat, schooln |
|
| VIII. EDUCATION AND TRAINING (ET) |
| ET01 |
educ90 |
The highest grade completed is recorded.
Any education that could be counted towards a degree, certificate or diploma from an
educational institution is taken as "post-secondary" education. For example,
trades programs offered through apprenticeship, vocational schools or private trade
schools are considered as post-secondary even when they do not require high school
graduation. |
| ET02 |
|
* (refer to variable ET01) |
| ET03 |
|
* |
| ET04 |
|
* |
| ET05 |
|
* |
| ET06 |
|
* |
| ET07 |
|
* |
IX. SITUATION ONE YEAR BEFORE THE
SURVEY (YA)
Given that the rotation pattern for the LFS is 6 months and no retrospective
information is present in the questionnaire, the Canadian LFS does not have information
about the labour force status of the respondent one year prior to the survey. |
| YA01 |
|
* |
| YA02 |
|
* |
| YA03 |
|
* |
| YA04 |
|
* |
| YA05 |
|
* |
| YA06 |
|
* |
| X. LABOUR FORCE STATUS (LF) (derived
variables) |
| LF01 |
|
|
| LF02 |
|
|
| LF03 |
|
In the Canadian questionnaire, it is not specified whether the
individual is available for self-employment or dependent employment.
Category LF03=4 includes therefore both categories LF03=2 and LF03=3 |
| LF04 |
|
|
| XI. EARNINGS AND INCOME (EI) |
| EI01 |
hrlyearn |
This is the usual hourly wage at the main job. Includes tips,
commissions and bonuses and is before taxes and other deductions.
The variable is available only for employees, including those who are paid on an hourly
basis. |
| EI02 |
|
* |
| EI03 |
|
* |
| EI04 |
|
* |
| XII. TECHNICAL ITEMS (TI) |
| TI01 |
|
* |
| TI02 |
|
* |
| TI03 |
|
* |
| TI04 |
fweight |
The data are weighted at the economic family level. |
| TI05 |
survyear, survmnth |
|
| COUNTRY |
|
|
