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Have you been invited to participate in the Labour Force Survey (LFS)?
If you received an invitation letter in the mail, your address has been selected to participate in the Labour Force Survey. Over the next few months, Statistics Canada will contact you by email, telephone, or in person to complete the LFS questionnaire during the collection period.
Did you receive a secure access code to complete your survey online this month?
If you received a letter, you will find your secure access code in the top right corner of the letter in a grey box.
If you received an email invitation, please follow the instructions in the email.
Participants that are invited to complete their survey online can log in to the survey by following the steps below.
Step 1: Visit the electronic questionnaire portal and select Start my survey.
Step 2: Enter your secure access code (you will find this code in the invitation letter or email you previously received from Statistics Canada).
Step 3: Complete the survey.
Are you missing your secure access code, or do you need help?
For assistance, please call or email us.
Phone:
1-877-949-9492
(TTY: 1-800-363-7629)
Monday to Friday (except holidays) from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern time
If you use an operator-assisted relay service, you can call us during regular business hours. You do not need to authorize the operator to contact us.
Email:
The Labour Force Survey is a monthly survey which measures the current state of the Canadian labour market and is used, among other things, to calculate the national, provincial, territorial and regional employment and unemployment rates. The survey results are used to make important decisions regarding job creation, education and training, retirement pensions and income support.
Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes. In addition, information from partially completed or unsaved questionnaires may be retained and used.
Collection period:
- September 2024: From September 22 to October 01, 2024
- October 2024: From October 20 to October 29, 2024
- November 2024: From November 17 to November 26, 2024
- December 2024: From December 15 to December 23, 2024
The survey is usually conducted around the third week every month and results are published early the next month.
Interviews are held during the day and in the evening, including weekends and statutory holidays.
Collection methods:
The LFS uses telephone interview, in-person interview, and electronic questionnaire collection methods. Telephone and in-person interviews are scheduled at a time most convenient for you. Statistics Canada interviewers will always be carrying an official government photo identification card during in-person visits.
Survey participation:
Participation in the Labour Force Survey is mandatory under the authority of the Statistics Act.
In order to ensure data accuracy, Statistics Canada counts on the cooperation and goodwill of Canadians—coast to coast—included in the survey sample.
Confidentiality
Data are collected under the authority of the Statistics Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, Chapter S-19. Your information will be kept strictly confidential.
Data sharing agreements and record linkage
Record linkage
To enhance the data from this survey and reduce response burden, Statistics Canada may combine the information you provide with data from other surveys or administrative sources.
Topics covered in the survey
The survey asks questions about
- employment and unemployment
- hours of work and work arrangements
- industries
- labour
- occupations
- unionization and industrial relations
- wages, salaries and other earnings.
Published data
Statistics Canada publishes the results of its surveys in many formats. To find all the documents related to this survey, follow the links below and type the name of the survey in the search box located at the left of your screen to filter the results.
Data: You will find tables, profiles of a community or region, thematic maps, public use microdata files, and data visualization tools.
Analysis: You will have direct access to Stats in brief (e.g., releases from The Daily, fact sheets), articles and reports, and journals and periodicals.
Survey-specific questions
- What is the Labour Force Survey (LFS)?
- Who is surveyed?
- Who can complete the LFS questionnaire?
- Why and how was my household selected?
- Why don't I have the option to complete the survey online?
- I don't work, why do you include me in your survey?
- Why do you ask questions that are not related to employment?
- Why do I have to complete the Labour Force Survey Supplement?
- Is Statistics Canada offering compensation for completing the Labour Force Survey?
- Who uses the survey data? Why is it important?
- How do I access survey results?
- Where can I get more information on the survey?
- How will you safeguard the confidentiality of my information?
What is the Labour Force Survey (LFS)?
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is carried out monthly by Statistics Canada. It is the only source of current, monthly estimates of total employment and unemployment. While LFS is best known for the unemployment rate, it also produces a great deal of information on a variety of labour-related issues.
Who is surveyed?
More than 68,000 addresses across Canada are selected to participate in the LFS. Information is obtained from all members of the selected household who are 15 years old and older, whether they work or not.
Who can complete the LFS questionnaire?
Statistics Canada collects LFS information from the working age population, aged 15 or older. Participation in the survey is mandatory for adults under the authority of the Statistics Act.
Why and how was my household selected?
It would be costly and impractical to survey every person in Canada. Instead, Statistics Canada employs a statistical method known as sampling. Sampling is an established way to determine the characteristics of an entire population by using the answers of a much smaller, randomly chosen sample. In order to ensure that the sample is an accurate reflection of the population as a whole, the survey results from all sampled addresses must be collected.
Why don't I have the option to complete the survey online?
While the online option is available for some households which meet eligibility criteria, for others, initial interview and follow-up interviews are completed over the phone or in person with an interviewer.
I don't work, why do you include me in your survey?
Retired persons, students, unpaid family workers and others not looking for work are included because we need their information in order to estimate the participation rate. The participation rate is the size of the labour force as a percentage of the population 15 years of age and over.
Why do you ask questions that are not related to employment?
It is possible that at the end of the interview, the interviewer asks you questions that are not related to work; for example, you could be asked questions about income, support payments, inter-household transfers, disability, unmet health care needs, food security, and characteristics and costs of housing. There are some surveys such as the Canadian Income Survey which use the same sample as the LFS to collect information for their survey. This initiative results in substantial cost savings for Statistics Canada.
Why do I have to complete the Labour Force Survey Supplement?
Following the completion of the main LFS, you may be selected to respond to one of two survey supplements. Depending on your interview month, you may be asked to complete the Labour Market Indicators (LMI) supplement or the Canadian Income Survey (CIS). In the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, households are only eligible to receive the CIS supplement.
While participation in a supplement is voluntary, the information you provide is important in building reliable data for Canadians. The information collected will be used to complement Labour Force Survey data and will allow Statistics Canada to produce a number of additional labour market indicators, as well as support the effort to monitor the economic well-being of individuals and families in Canada.
Is Statistics Canada offering compensation for completing the Labour Force Survey?
We are not offering compensation for completing this survey. Statistics Canada only offers compensation for surveys in exceptional circumstances. If a survey is offering compensation, it will be explicitly stated in the survey's information for survey participants page.
Who uses the survey data? Why is it important?
The results from the Labour Force Survey have many uses. All levels of government rely on employment and unemployment information from the survey. For example, its information is used to determine Employment Insurance eligibility as well as the size and duration of the program's benefits.
Data from the survey are also factored into the calculation of gross domestic product (GDP), an aggregate measure of economic production. Among its many other uses, the GDP is an important factor in determining the size of transfers from the federal government to the provinces.
The survey's data also help determine the Bank of Canada interest rate. The Bank of Canada is constantly monitoring the effects of its policies to see if they are having the intended effect on financial markets, spending, production, employment and ultimately inflation. Financial markets also look to the survey's numbers to predict what the Bank of Canada might do with interest rates.
Because it provides valuable information on the success of various programs (or potentially the need for new ones), the LFS is closely monitored by a number of government departments. For example, those concerned with adjustments to retirement and pension funding monitor information on the employment situation of older workers. Also closely watched by policy and program developers are data on youth employment and unemployment to see how these young people are entering the workforce.
Trends in self-employment by sector are followed closely by those interested in the role played by small and medium-sized businesses in job creation and economic growth.
Finally, each month the media gives much coverage to the survey results as they are recognized as one of the most important signs of how the economy is performing.
How do I access survey results?
Results are released monthly in The Daily approximately 10 working days after the survey is completed.
Consult Published data to obtain survey data and analysis on the Labour Force Survey.
Where can I get more information about the survey?
Contact us for more information about the Labour Force Survey.
How will you safeguard the confidentiality of my information?
As with all Statistics Canada surveys, any information provided will remain confidential pursuant to the Statistics Act. Statistics Canada takes the privacy of Canadians very seriously. Published data can never identify you or your household.
To find out more about the measures in place to safeguard the confidentiality of your information, visit Statistics Canada's Trust Centre.
Resources for respondents
Labour Force Survey supplements
Labour Market Indicators
The Labour Market Indicators supplement is a voluntary survey that is collected following the completion of the Labour Force Survey. Results will be studied to identify emerging Canadian Labour Market Indicators. Topics covered in the survey include working from home, employment insurance benefits and more.
Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes. In addition, information from partially completed or unsaved questionnaires may be retained and used.
For more information about this survey please visit: Labour Market Indicators
Labour Market and Socioeconomic Indicators (LMSI)
The Labour Market and Socioeconomic Indicators supplement is a voluntary survey that is collected following the completion of the Labour Force Survey. Results will be studied to identify emerging Canadian Labour Market Indicators. Topics covered in the survey include type of employment, quality of employment, support payments, disabilities and unmet health care needs.
Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes. In addition, information from partially completed or unsaved questionnaires may be retained and used.
For more information about this survey please visit: Labour Market and Socioeconomic Indicators (LMSI)
Canadian Income Survey (CIS)
The Canadian Income Survey is a voluntary survey that is collected following the completion of the Labour Force Survey. It is a cross-sectional survey that collects data about income, labour market activity, school attendance, support payments, child care expenses, disability, unmet health care needs, food security, and characteristics and costs of housing.
Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes. In addition, information from partially completed or unsaved questionnaires may be retained and used.
For more information about this survey please visit: Canadian Income Survey (CIS)
