Labour Force Survey

Question

I was just checking out the Labour Force Survey on the STC Nesstar site and noticed that it was monthly. But I have a memory of annual LFS files in the past. And this was reinforced when I checked out the
odesi site. My question - which files do we use - or can we use both the annual and the monthly files. eg. LFS 1980. I do remember seeing a note about this in the distant past and went searching for it but was unable to find it.

Answer

I searched the dlilist archives and did find references to "annual" LFS files being received from the author division. According to the dlilist archives, at one time, we received LFS data annually instead of the monthly LFS files we now receive. (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/mhonarc/dli-ild-msg/msg04282.html).

“The LFS "annual file" is NOT a real annual file. That is there has not been any re-manipulation of the weights so that the data reflects an annual estimate. All you get is all the records from each monthly file put into one huge file. The monthly weights associated with the records for that month still has to be used - there is NO annual weight. Trying to use the records in this file to reflect annual estimates means that you must use each of the monthly weights and then divide the result by 12. The result will not be exact and will probably not match any estimates previously released and reported.
My advice would be to use the monthly files only.”

(Full thread available at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/mhonarc/dli-ild-msg/msg08827.html