Labour Force Survey노동력 조사

What is it?

The Labour Force Survey (노동력 조사, LFS) is a household survey that Statistics Canada does every month. It started in 1945.

It sorts people aged 15 and older into three groups: people with jobs (employed), people without a job who are looking for one (unemployed), and people doing neither (such as students or retirees). These numbers are used to work out the unemployment rate, the employment rate and the participation rate.

About 65,000 households, or over 100,000 people, answer each month. The questions are about one week in the month (the survey week). In October 2026 the survey week was October 11 to 17.

Who does it ask?

• People aged 15 and older who usually live in Canada. People living on reserves, full-time members of the regular Armed Forces and people living in institutions are left out.
• It includes citizens and permanent residents, and also temporary residents with a work or study permit, their families, and refugee claimants.
• The Canada-wide numbers do not include the three territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut). Territory numbers are released separately.

What can it tell you?

• Unemployment rates, employment rates, the number of jobs, jobs by industry and average hourly wages for Canada and each province. In October 2026 Canada’s unemployment rate was 6.7% and the average hourly wage was $37.89.
• It also gives numbers for city areas. Table 8 of the release has monthly figures for Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver. In October 2026 the Toronto CMA’s unemployment rate was 7.4%.
• Sometimes it asks extra questions. In October 2026 it asked about people living in households that found it hard to meet their financial needs (29.7% in Canada) and about job satisfaction.

What to know when you read the numbers

• It is a sample survey, so it has a margin of error. Statistics Canada’s release focuses on changes that are statistically significant at the 68% confidence level. One month’s move is noisier than a longer trend.
• It mostly uses seasonally adjusted numbers. These have the usual changes of the year taken out.
• It is revised every year. The seasonally adjusted numbers for the previous 3 years are revised each year and published around the end of January.
• Its population numbers are not the official population count. They are used to weight the survey, so for population change it is better to use Statistics Canada’s official population estimates.
• Other job statistics, such as SEPH (a survey of employers’ payrolls), use different methods, so their numbers can differ.

What it means for buyers

• The Labour Force Survey is the first of Statistics Canada’s monthly job statistics to come out, so it is often in the news. Rate decisions look at many kinds of data besides jobs, such as prices, so it is better not to guess where rates will go from this one number (opinion).
• When you see a Toronto number, check whether it is for the Toronto CMA, and whether it is monthly or a 3-month average. The smaller the area, the bigger the error.
• Your own mortgage approval depends on your income and job papers, not on this survey. Check with your mortgage specialist at pre-approval.