DOI: 10.5683/sp3/u48big
title: Labour Force Survey, March 2025 [Canada]
title: Enquête sur la population active, mars 2025 [Canada]
title: LFS March 2025

description: &lt;b&gt;Labour Force Survey&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/br&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Labour Force Survey provides estimates of employment and unemployment which are among the timeliest and important measures of performance of the Canadian economy. The LFS estimates are the first of the major monthly economic data series to be released. The Canadian Labour Force Survey was developed following the Second World War to satisfy a need for reliable and timely data on the labour market. Information was urgently required on the massive labour market changes involved in the transition from a war to a peace-time economy.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;b&gt;Objective&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/br&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The main objective of the LFS is to divide the working-age population into three mutually exclusive classifications - employed, unemployed, and not in the labour force - and to provide descriptive and explanatory data on each of these. LFS data are used to produce the well-known unemployment rate as well as other standard labour market indicators such as the employment rate and the participation rate. The LFS also provides employment estimates by industry, occupation, public and private sector, hours worked and much more, all cross-classifiable by a variety of demographic characteristics. Estimates are produced for Canada, the provinces, the territories and a large number of sub-provincial regions. For employees, wage rates, union status, job permanency and workplace size are also produced. These data are used by different levels of government for evaluation and planning of employment programs in Canada. Regional unemployment rates are used by Employment and Social Development Canada to determine eligibility, level and duration of insurance benefits for persons living within a particular employment insurance region. The data are also used by labour market analysts, economists, consultants, planners, forecasters and academics in both the private and public sector.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;b&gt;Collection&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/br&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This public use microdata file contains non-aggregated data for a wide variety of variables collected from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). It contains both personal characteristics for all individuals in the household and detailed labour force characteristics for household members 15 years of age and over. The personal characteristics include age, sex, marital status, educational attainment, and family characteristics. Detailed labour force characteristics include employment information such as class of worker, usual and actual hours of work, employee hourly and weekly wages, industry and occupation of current or most recent job, public and private sector, union status, paid or unpaid overtime hours, job permanency, hours of work lost, job tenure, and unemployment information such as duration of unemployment, methods of job search and type of job sought. Labour force characteristics are also available for students during the school year and during the summer months as well as school attendance whether full or part-time and the type of institution.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;LFS revisions:&lt;/b&gt; Labour force surveys are revised on a periodic basis. The most recent revisions took place in 2025. As of January 2025, LFS microdata and estimates have been adjusted to reflect population counts from the 2021 Census, with revisions going back to 2011. Additionally, several changes were made to key variables on the PUMFs:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Survey weights (FINALWT) have been updated to use 2021 Census population control totals.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Sub-provincial geography (CMA) has been updated to the 2021 Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) boundaries.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;All industry data (NAICS_21) was revised to use the latest standard, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 2022.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Coding enhancements were applied to improve longitudinal consistency of detailed National Occupational Classification data (NOC_10 and NOC_43).&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Data were revised to use the gender of person instead of sex (GENDER).&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
description: Labour Force Survey
description: The participation rate represents the number of persons in the labour force expressed as a percentage of the total population size. The employment rate is the total number of employed divided by the total population size. For both the above rates, the numerator and the denominator represent the same geographic and demographic group. For Canada, the provinces, CMAs and some age-sex groups, the LFS population estimates are not subject to sampling variability because they are calibrated to independent sources. Therefore, in the case of the participation rate and the employment rate of these geographic and demographic groups, the CV is equal to that of the contributing numerator.

Some subgroups of Canada such as industry and occupation groups are not calibrated to independent sources. For example, there is no official independent source for a monthly count of persons in the agriculture industry in Manitoba. To determine the CV of rates in the case of such subgroups, the variability of both the numerator and the denominator has to be taken into account because the denominator is no longer a controlled total and is subject to sampling variability. Therefore, for participation rates and employment rates of subgroups, the CV can be determined similar to the unemployment rate. The totals in the numerator and denominator for the relevant rate should reflect the same subgroup.