Labour and Income

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• Who is included in the labour force?

  The labour force is the number of individuals who are currently working plus those who are unemployed. The unemployed includes individuals who during the reference week, were available for work and were either on temporary layoff, had looked for work in the past four weeks or had a job to start in the next four weeks.

• What is the unemployment rate?

  The unemployment rate is the number of individuals unemployed expressed as a percentage of the labour force. The unemployed are those who during the reference week, were available for work and were either on temporary layoff, had looked for work in the past four weeks or had a job to start in the next four weeks. The concept is the same for both the Census and LFS. See The Census Dictionary and the Guide to the Labour Force Survey for more detail. Both the Census and the Labour Force Survey exclude institutional residents; in addition, the LFS excludes persons living on Indian Reserves and full-time members of the armed forces.

• What is the participation rate?

  The participation rate is the number of individuals in the labour force expressed as a percentage of the population.

• What is the employment rate?

  The employment rate is the number of individuals employed expressed as a percentage of the population.

• What is the unemployment rate for...a community, an area?

  Current unemployment rates are produced by Statistics Canada's monthly Labour Force Survey; this survey samples approximately 6,500 households province-wide. This allows for the estimation of unemployment rates for the province, metropolitan Vancouver and Victoria, BC's Development Regions (North Coast & Nechako are aggregated) and some smaller major urban areas (Kelowna, Kamloops, Abbotsford (Matsqui/Mission), Chilliwack, Nanaimo, Prince George and Dawson Creek). Rates are sometimes suppressed for the Development Regions and major urban areas if estimates are too small to be reliable. These areas are also subject to sampling variability and are expressed as three-month moving averages. See the thematic unemployment map.

  The Census offers the most geographic flexibility and provides unemployment rates for Regional Districts, incorporated places, Indian Reserves, unorganized Census Subdivisions, metropolitan areas, urban areas (Census Agglomerations) and Census Tracts (neighbourhood areas within large urban centres). Labour force characteristics are also published for particular population groups, such as aboriginals (off-reserve) and immigrants. However, the Census is taken only every five years, and the reference week is usually the end of May or early June. The option is available to request, on a user-cost basis, unemployment data for user-defined areas, populations, or both, directly from Statistics Canada.

• What is the wage/salary for a particular job?

  The 2009 BC Wage & Salary Survey collected information on wages, hours of work, and skills shortages for more than one hundred of the province's most common occupations. Data can be accessed through the BC Wage and Salary webpage, which allows users to generate reports for specific occupations by region. A complete listing of occupation and region-specific data availability can be found here.

  Statistics Canada's monthly Labour Force Survey produces hourly and weekly wage rates for broad industrial and occupational groups by province. Provincial overall comparisons, updated monthly, are available from BC Stats. Occupational group wage rates are available from the Earnings and Employment Trends release. For more detail contact BC Stats

  The Census provides employment income for full-time/full-year workers by detailed occupation at the provincial level. Although commonly used, one should be aware that the Census asks for one's current occupation, or if not working Census week, the job of longest duration from January of the previous year. Income data is based on the previous calendar year's income, and the job may have changed during that time. Data is available from BC Stats for a minimal service fee.

  Statistics Canada collects data on Construction Union Wage Rates for major metropolitan areas by trade on a quarterly basis. They can be accessed from Statistics Canada's electronic database CANSIM at $3 per series. See also Statistics Canada's quarterly publication Capital Expenditure Price Statistics (Catalogue 62-007-XPB), available in many libraries.

  Human Resources Development Canada maintains a Labour Market Information website which includes some wage and salary information.

• How have wage rates changed/increased since...? What do I use to adjust wage rates?

  Statistics Canada's monthly Labour Force Survey produces hourly and weekly wage rates for broad occupational and industry groups by province. Provincial overall comparisons, updated monthly, are available from BC Stats. Hourly rates may be preferable to weekly rates, as weekly data may be affected by the number of hours worked. Occupational group and wage rates are available from BC Stats for a minimal service fee.

  BC union contract settlement increases are posted by the Labour Relations Board of BC at http://www.lrb.bc.ca/cas/

  Common approaches to wage adjustment are to use wage movements/contracts settlements, or inflation, or some combination.

  Wages adjusted for inflation usually use the Consumer Price Index, often referred to as a COLA: Cost of Living Adjustment. Important to note is that the Consumer Price Index is produced monthly, but is not for any one day of the month, as prices are collected over several weeks. A 12- month period of change should be specified as being over the same month a year ago; better yet is to use the annual average CPI compared to a year earlier, as this will smooth any monthly fluctuations. In a contract, it is also important to specify whether the index used is for British Columbia, Vancouver, Victoria, or Canada, and if it is using a sub-component such as housing. For annual measures, see our Other Economic Statistics page. Monthly data are available in the Consumer Price Index release.

• What is the income in...community/area?

  Income is measured in several surveys, and is also derived from Income Tax Returns. There are a variety of ways of measuring income, some more suitable than others, depending on the use to be made of the data. When looking at economic well-being, household or family income may be more suitable than individual income. For example, one partner in a couple may primarily stay home looking after children and may have a low income, while the other partner could be in the labour force and making significant income. The former person is not necessarily poor.

  Sources:

  The Census provides income data with wide geographical flexibility - Provinces, Regional Districts (Census Divisions), incorporated places, Indian Reserves and unorganized areas (Census Subdivisions), and Census Metropolitan Areas (Vancouver, Victoria and Abbotsford starting with 2001) and urban areas under 100,000 population (Census Agglomerations) with breakouts by neighbourhood (Census Tracts) for those that are 50,000+ in population. Custom areas can be purchased from Statistics Canada. Income measures include distributions by level of income, averages and medians for individual total income, employment income, and wage and salary income, household income, census family income and persons not in families' income. Incidence of low income using Statistics Canada's Low Income Cut-Offs (LICO) before tax are also available except for Indian Reserve populations. Data are also available by source of income, i.e. employment, government transfers and other. Data are available at 5-year intervals for the calendar year prior to the Census, usually about two years after the Census has been taken.

  Income Trends in Canada: Based on the annual Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID), Statistics Canada produces data by province and metropolitan area. Income concepts include total income, market income, and income from government transfers. Incidence of low income based on the Low Income Cut- Offs (LICO) before and after taxes are available. This survey uses economic families and unattached individuals as well as individuals regardless of family status. Data on children in low income are also available from this source. Data are released about 18 months after the income reference year. For more information contact BC Stats. Statistics Canada has basic data on its web site for Canada and the provinces.

  Taxation Statistics: Canada Customs and Revenue provides annual personal income data aggregated to localities, that is incorporated places and some unorganized Census Subdivisions based on the mailing address of the tax returns. Distributions by income level and average income as well as aggregate income by source of income (employment, pension, investment, self-employment and other) is available for British Columbia by locality in Taxation Statistics. Taxation statistics data is also included in Community Facts. Similar information is available by postal Forward Sortation Area (the first 3 digits of the postal code) in Neighbourhood Income and Demographics. Details by age and sex for the province in total are also available.