Dictionary, Census of Population, 2021
Class of worker
Class of worker
Definition
Class of worker refers to whether a person is an employee or is self-employed. The self-employed include persons with or without a business, as well as unpaid family workers.
Statistical unit(s)
- Employed person
- Experienced labour force person
- Labour force
- Person 15 years or over
- Person with recent work experience
Classification(s)
Reported in
2021 and 2016 (25% sample); 2011Footnote 1 (30% sample); 2006, 2001, 1996, 1991, 1986 and 1981 (20% sample). For availability prior to 1981, please refer to Appendix 2.1.
Reported for
Population aged 15 years and over, in private households, who worked since January 1, 2020. The variable usually relates to the individual's job held during the week of Sunday, May 2 to Saturday, May 8, 2021. However, if the person did not work during that week but had worked at some time since January 1, 2020, the information relates to the job held the longest during that period.
Question number(s)
Derived variable: Questions 48 and 49
Responses
Employee
Permanent position – no fixed end date
Fixed-term position (1 year or more)
Casual, seasonal or short-term position (less than 1 year)
Unpaid family worker (without pay or salary) for their spouse or another relative in a family business or farm
Self-employed
Self-employed (incorporated business)
Without employee(s) (alone or in partnership)
With employee(s) (alone or in partnership)
Self-employed (unincorporated business)
Without employee(s) (alone or in partnership)
With employee(s) (alone or in partnership)
Remarks
Employee
This category includes persons who worked for others in the context of an employer-employee relationship. This includes persons who worked for wages, salaries, commissions, tips, piece-rates, or payments 'in kind' (payments in goods or services rather than money). Employees were asked to identify the type of position they held: Permanent - no fixed end date; Fixed-term (1 year or more); Casual, seasonal or short-term position (less than 1 year).
Exclusion:
'Employee' does not include working owners of incorporated businesses even though they may receive wages, salaries, commissions, tips, piece-rates or payments 'in kind' (payments in goods or services rather than money).
Self-employed
This category includes persons whose job consisted mainly of operating a business, farm or professional practice, alone or in partnership. This includes: operating a farm, whether the land is rented or owned; working on a freelance or contract basis to do a job (e.g., architects, private duty nurses); operating a direct distributorship selling and delivering products such as cosmetics, newspapers, brushes and cleaning products; and fishing with own equipment or with equipment in which the person has a share. The business can be incorporated or unincorporated. Self-employed persons include those with and those without paid help (employees). Also included among the self-employed are unpaid family workers. They are persons who work without pay in a business, farm or professional practice owned and operated by another family member living in the same dwelling.
Data are available for:
(a) the employed person;
(b) the labour force - persons who were either employed or unemployed in the reference week. Unemployed persons who worked prior to January 1, 2020, or who never worked, are shown in the data under the category 'Class of worker - Not applicable';
(c) persons with recent work experience; they are those who have worked at some point in time between January 2020 and May 2021, regardless of whether or not they were in the labour force in the reference week.
Note(s)
Related 2021 data products
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