Canada Employment: Health Care and Social Assistance

## What this measures

The number of people employed in one Canadian industry: hospitals, clinics, nursing and residential care, home care, child care and social services. It counts people by the industry of their main job, employees and self-employed together, from the monthly Labour Force Survey, seasonally adjusted.

## Why it matters

Demand comes from an ageing population and public funding rather than the business cycle; it has been the largest source of job growth in recent years. Comparing sectors shows where hiring is concentrated and where it is shrinking, which the headline number hides.

## How to read it

A rising line means the sector is adding workers; a falling line means it is losing them. Read the change over twelve months, not one: sector estimates from a household survey move by several thousand from sampling alone.

## What it does not say

It is a household survey, so small sectors carry wide sampling error from month to month. It counts people, not jobs, and does not show hours or pay. It does not cover the territories or people living on reserves. It is the Canadian counterpart of the U.S. labor.ces.* payroll series, but it is measured differently (households, not employers).

## Source

Statistics Canada, table 14-10-0355-01 (vector v2057617), "Employment by industry, monthly, seasonally adjusted; Health Care and Social Assistance; Estimate; Seasonally adjusted". Palanor pulls it from Statistics Canada's Web Data Service every day and rewrites recent periods so revisions carry through.

Source: Statistics Canada. Reproduced and distributed on an "as is" basis with the permission of Statistics Canada. Statistics Canada Open Licence.