December 2001, vol. 3, no. 3 - Feature Story

New Data on Paid Employment in Canadian Small Business Sector Expected Soon

Statistics Canada’s monthly Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) is designed to provide monthly estimates of payroll employment, paid hours and earnings at detailed industry levels for all of Canada, as well as for each province and territory. SEPH data were first published for the April 1983 reference month and were based on a monthly sample size of 70 000 establishments. Over the past several years, this survey program has undergone major developments to improve data quality and reduce the cost of obtaining the information.

In a three-phase redesign, implemented in March 1994, May 1996 and May 1998, survey questionnaires were gradually replaced by administrative data. The administrative sample used to derive employment and monthly payroll data was supplemented with a Business Payrolls Survey (BPS) of establishments. It enabled the SEPH monthly sample size to be reduced to the 10 000 establishments sample size of the BPS.*

The Small Business Quarterly, in circulation since 1996, has published quarterly data from the SEPH. These data were broken down into three employment sizes, in addition to the enterprise level, based on a special tabulation for Industry Canada. In January 2001, SEPH migrated from the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) to the new North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). During this process, SEPH data by size of business have not been available.

When SEPH data by size of business become available again, the breakdown by employment size will be in seven categories:

 

0–4 +	5–19	20–49	50–99	100–299	300–499	500+
+Companies without employees are not included in the survey.

The industry breakdown will be as shown in Table 1. Some data may be suppressed because of confidentiality restrictions. Revised survey data will restate the four quarters of the year 2000, as well as provide current estimates on a quarterly basis. The data are expected to be available by the end of this year in PDF format under Statistics Canada Catalogue Number 72-002XIB, Employment Earnings and Hours.

* Agriculture, fishing and trapping, private household services, religious organizations and defence services continue to be excluded from the survey.

Table 1: Industry Classification (NAICS)
11	Forestry
21	Mining and oil and gas extraction
22	Utilities
23	Construction
31–33	Manufacturing
41	Wholesale trade
44–45	Retail trade
48–49	Transportation and warehousing
51	Information and cultural industries
52	Finance and insurance
53	Real estate and rental and leasing
54	Professional, scientific and technical services
55	Management of companies and enterprises
56	Administration, support, waste management and remediation services
61	Educational services
62	Health care and social assistance
71	Arts, entertainment and recreation
72	Accommodation and food services
81	Other services (excluding public administration)
91	Public administration