The number of people who are unemployed as a percentage of the active labour force (i.e. employed and unemployed).

Regional unemployment rates used by the Employment Insurance program, by effective date, current month.

Number of persons in the labour force (employment and unemployment), unemployment rate, participation rate and employment rate by census metropolitan area, last 5 months. Data are also available for the standard error of the estimate, the standard error of the month-to-month change and the standard error of the year-over-year change.

Number of persons in the labour force (employment and unemployment), unemployment rate, participation rate and employment rate by province, gender and age group. Data are presented for 12 months earlier, previous month and current month, as well as year-over-year and month-to-month level change and percentage change. Data are also available for the standard error of the estimate, the standard error of the month-to-month change and the standard error of the year-over-year change.

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. 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. 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.LFS revisions: 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: Survey weights (FINALWT) have been updated to use 2021 Census population control totals. Sub-provincial geography (CMA) has been updated to the 2021 Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) boundaries. All industry data (NAICS_21) was revised to use the latest standard, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 2022. Coding enhancements were applied to improve longitudinal consistency of detailed National Occupational Classification data (NOC_10 and NOC_43). Data were revised to use the gender of person instead of sex (GENDER).

View monthly updates and historical trends for Canada Unemployment Rate. Source: Statistics Canada. Track economic data with YCharts analytics.

What would most help those who were unemployed to find employment by Aboriginal identity, age group and sex, population aged 15 years and over, Canada, provinces and territories.

The Labour Force Survey provides estimates of employment and unemployment which are among the timeliest and important measures of performance of the Canadian economy. With the release of the survey results only 10 days after the completion of data collection, 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. 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.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.LFS revisions: Labour force surveys are revised on a periodic basis, either to adopt the most recent geography, industry and occupation classifications; to use new observations to fine-tune seasonal adjustment factors; or to introduce methodological enhancement. Prior LFS revisions were conducted in 2011, 2015 and 2021. The most recent revisions to the LFS were conducted in 2023. The first major change was a transition to the National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021 V1.0, with all LFS series from 1987 onwards having been revised to the new classification. The second major change were methodological enhancements to LFS data processing, applied to all LFS series beginning Jan 2006. The third major change was a revision of seasonal adjustment factors, applied to LFS series Jan 2002 onward. A list of prior versions of this LFS dataset can be found under the ‘Versions’ tab.

Canada CA: NAIRU: Unemployment Gap data was reported at -0.577 % in 2022. This records an increase from the previous number of -1.614 % for 2021. Canada CA: NAIRU: Unemployment Gap data is updated yearly, averaging -0.461 % from Dec 1985 (Median) to 2022, with 38 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.643 % in 2007 and a record low of -3.360 % in 1993. Canada CA: NAIRU: Unemployment Gap data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Canada – Table CA.OECD.EO: Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU): Forecast: OECD Member: Annual. GAPUNR - Unemployment gap Difference of nairu and unemployment rate OECD calculation, see OECD Economic Outlook, Database Inventory OECD Economic Outlook, Database Inventory:https://www.oecd.org/eco/outlook/Database_Inventory.pdf

What would most help those who were unemployed to find employment by age group and sex, Inuit population aged 15 years and over, Canada and Inuit Nunangat.

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, data on wage rates, union status, job permanency and establishment 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.

The Labour Force Survey provides estimates of employment and unemployment which are among the most timely and important measures of performance of the Canadian economy. With the release of the survey results only 13 days after the completion of data collection, 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. 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 Human Resources 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. Note: Because missing values are removed from this dataset, any form of non-response (e.g. valid skip, not stated) or don't know/refusal cannot be coded as a missing. The "Sysmiss" label in the Statistics section indicates the number of non-responding records for each variable, and the "Valid" values in the Statistics section indicate the number of responding records for each variable. The total number of records for each variable is comprised of both the sysmiss and valid values. LFS revisions: LFS estimates were previously based on the 2001 Census population estimates. These data have been adjusted to reflect 2006 Census population estimates and were revised back to 1996.

Statistics Canada publishes monthly labour force statistics for all Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) and provinces. In addition, the City of Toronto purchases a special run from Statistics Canada of Labour Force Survey (LFS) data for city of Toronto residents (i.e. separate from the rest of the Toronto CMA). LFS data are collected by place of residence, and therefore city of Toronto's "employment" represents "employed residents" and not "jobs" in the city of Toronto. There are more jobs in the city of Toronto than employed city of Toronto residents. In this LFS database, you will find 22 monthly tables and 28 annual tables. Most of the tables contain data for five geographies: city of Toronto, Toronto CMA, Toronto/Hamilton/Oshawa CMAs, Ontario and Canada ( see attachment Table of Contents below a full description ). LFS data in the IVT tables are not seasonally adjusted. Top level seasonally adjusted LFS data are available in our monthly Toronto Economic Bulletin on Open Data. LFS is based on a monthly sample of approximately 2,800 households in the Toronto CMA, about half of the sample is from the city of Toronto; therefore, estimates will vary from the results of a complete census. LFS follows a rotating panel sample design, in which households remain in the sample for six consecutive months. The total sample consists of six representative sub-samples of panels, and each month a panel is replaced after completing its six month stay in the survey. Outgoing households are replaced by households in the same or similar area. This results in a five-sixths month-to-month sample overlap, which makes the design efficient for estimating month-to-month changes. The rotation after six months prevents undue respondent burden for households that are selected for the survey ( see attachment Guide to the Labour Force Survey for more information). Upon reviewing the data, you will see that at least some cells in the IVT tables have been suppressed. For confidentiality reasons, Statistics Canada suppresses Labour Force Survey data for any cell that corresponds to less than 1,500 persons. At the beginning of 2015, Statistics Canada substantially changed the methodology used to produce LFS population estimates for the city of Toronto. These changes have resulted in large and inexplicable swings in population and related counts, which are not real. However, the unemployment and participation rates for city residents showed very little change in this revision. The red dots in the chart above represents Statistics Canada's Annual Demographics estimates for the populations of the city of Toronto, age 15 and over. These are only estimates, but they are generally accepted as the most accurate estimates for the city's population. (Source: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/91-214-x/91-214-x2018000-eng.htm). The most recent Statistics Canada population estimate for the city of Toronto is for July 1, 2015; therefore, we have to use projections thereafter. There are several population projections for the city. The projection that EDC staff has chosen to use for rebasing city of Toronto LFS data is the Ontario Ministry of Finance Population Projections 2017-2041 and downloaded June, 2017 from http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/economy/demographics/projections/ Please see attachment Rebased Labour Force Survey for City of Toronto below for annual adjustment factors, monthly adjustment factors and an example of how to rebase the absolute numbers for the city of Toronto.

Note: Because missing values are removed from this dataset, any form of non-response (e.g. valid skip, not stated) or don't know/refusal cannot be coded as a missing. The "Sysmiss" label in the Statistics section indicates the number of non-responding records for each variable, and the "Valid" values in the Statistics section indicate the number of responding records for each variable. The total number of records for each variable is comprised of both the sysmiss and valid values. The Labour Force Survey provides estimates of employment and unemployment which are among the most timely and important measures of performance of the Canadian economy. With the release of the survey results only 13 days after the completion of data collection, 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. 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 Human Resources 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.

What would help most for those who were not in the labour force and plan to look for work in the next 12 months to find employment by age group and sex, Inuit population aged 15 years and over, Canada and Inuit Nunangat.

What would help most for those who were not in the labour force and plan to look for work in the next 12 months to find employment by Aboriginal identity, age group and sex, population aged 15 years and over, Canada, provinces and territories.

The Labour Force Survey provides estimates of employment and unemployment which are among the most timely and important measures of performance of the Canadian economy. With the release of the survey results only 13 days after the completion of data collection, 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. 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 Human Resources 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. Note: Because missing values are removed from this dataset, any form of non-response (e.g. valid skip, not stated) or don't know/refusal cannot be coded as a missing. The "Sysmiss" label in the Statistics section indicates the number of non-responding records for each variable, and the "Valid" values in the Statistics section indicate the number of responding records for each variable. The total number of records for each variable is comprised of both the sysmiss and valid values. LFS revisions: LFS estimates were previously based on the 2001 Census population estimates. These data have been adjusted to reflect 2006 Census population estimates and were revised back to 1996.

Note: Because missing values are removed from this dataset, any form of non-response (e.g. valid skip, not stated) or don't know/refusal cannot be coded as a missing. The "Sysmiss" label in the Statistics section indicates the number of non-responding records for each variable, and the "Valid" values in the Statistics section indicate the number of responding records for each variable. The total number of records for each variable is comprised of both the sysmiss and valid values. The Labour Force Survey provides estimates of employment and unemployment which are among the most timely and important measures of performance of the Canadian economy. With the release of the survey results only 13 days after the completion of data collection, 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. 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 Human Resources 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.