Survey on Unpaid Time (SUT)

Detailed information for November and December 2023

In many ways, time spent on unpaid work and care is not considered productive time in our society. The Time Use Survey (TUS) that took place in the past year assessed, among other things, how much time Canadians actually spend doing unpaid work and caring for others. The Survey on Unpaid Time is a short follow-up survey that aims to better understand unpaid work and care in Canada.

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology

Description

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted that many social and health systems are greatly supported by unpaid work. The survey results will be assessed with those from the TUS. These data will help the government in valuing this unpaid work and care among various population groups, and support those who need to make economic, social, and healthcare decisions.

Reference period: The week in autumn 2023 prior to responding to the survey

Collection period: November and December 2023

Subjects

• Society and community
• Time use

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population for the Survey on Unpaid Time is all non-institutionalized persons and non-residents of First Nations reserves 15 years of age or older, living in the 10 provinces of Canada. The observed population of the Survey on Unpaid Time is the set of dwellings that were selected to participate in the 2022 Time Use Survey but did not respond.

Instrument design

The questionnaire content comprises a subset of questions of the 2022 Time Use Survey (TUS). The questionnaire design of the TUS had been based on results of qualitative testing done by Statistics Canada's Questionnaire Design Resource Centre (QDRC). This included a detailed report of participant feedback and interviewer observations written by QDRC staff. All comments and feedback from qualitative testing were carefully considered and incorporated into the survey whenever possible.

Sampling

This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.

The frame consisted of the non-respondent sampled dwellings in the 2022 TUS, excluding dwellings that had been classified as out-of-scope, hard refusal, non-response of the selected person in the dwelling, or cancelled during the collection of the 2021 Census of Population.

The Survey on Unpaid Time uses a two-stage sampling design. The sample is based on a stratified design.

Sampling unit
The sampling unit is the household. The final stage unit is an individual within the identified household.

Strafication method
The sample of dwellings was stratified by province and by population centre.

Sampling and sub-sampling
A sample proportional to the size of each stratum, with a minimum of 10 units per stratum, was selected. For the survey, a single eligible member of each sampled household is selected by the age-order selection method to complete the questionnaire. A field sample of 400 dwellings was selected.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2023-11-06 to 2023-12-17

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

Data are collected using an electronic questionnaire, the computer-assisted telephone interviewing method or the computer-assisted personal interview method. First contact is made by an invitation letter in the mail. Afterwards, households may receive a telephone call or a visit in person from a Statistics Canada interviewer to complete the survey. A non-responding household may receive up to two reminders by mail before they are contacted or visited by an interviewer. Respondents have the choice to complete their questionnaire in French or English. Proxy responses are not permitted. The average time to complete the interview/survey is 15 minutes.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .