Commuting destination of employed person

Status: This standard was approved as a departmental standard on March 16, 2021.

Definition

Commuting destination refers to whether or not a person commutes to another municipality (i.e., census subdivision), another census division or another province or territory. Commuting refers to the travel of a person to their usual place of work.

Employed person refers to those who, during the reference period, had a labour force status of 'employed'. That is, those who, during the reference period:

(a) Did any work at all at a job or business, that is, paid work in the context of an employer-employee relationship, or self-employment. This also includes persons who did unpaid family work, which is defined as unpaid work contributing directly to the operation of a farm, business or professional practice owned and operated by a related member of the same household; or

(b) Had a job but were not at work due to factors such as their own illness or disability, personal or family responsibilities, vacation or a labour dispute. This category excludes persons not at work because they were on layoff or between casual jobs, and those who did not then have a job (even if they had a job to start at a future date).

Usage

This variable applies only to those persons whose workplace location in Canada was at a fixed address. It applies to employed persons aged 15 years and over with a job or absent from their job or business during the reference week.

This concept allows users to assess commuting flows within and across jurisdictions.

Conformity to relevant internationally recognized standards

This standard is compatible with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's "Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2020 Censuses of Population and Housing", 2015, related to commuting to work. The report states that the location of place of work is the precise location in which a currently employed person performs his/her job, and where a usually employed person currently performs or last performed the job. The location should be coded to the smallest possible civil division.

Classifications

Relation to previous version

  • Commuting destination of employed person March 16, 2021 to current

    The definition of the concept has been simplified and the variable name has been modified in French.

  • Commuting destination of employed person June 15, 2015 to March 15, 2021

    This standard replaces the recommended standard 'Commute of employed person'.

  • Commute of employed person June 26, 2013 to June 14, 2015

    This standard was replaced by the 'Commuting destination of employed person' and 'Commuting duration of employed person' as of June 15, 2015.

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