Dictionary, Census of Population, 2021
Place of work status

Release date: November 17, 2021
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Definition

Place of work status refers to whether a person worked at home, worked outside Canada, had no fixed workplace address, or worked at a specific address (usual place of work).

Statistical unit(s)

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, with a job or absent from their job or business during the week of Sunday, May 2 to Saturday, May 8, 2021.

Previously, in other census cycles, early enumeration was conducted in remote, isolated parts of the provinces and territories in the months leading up to the May enumeration. Because of COVID-19, there was no early enumeration for the 2021 Census. Collection procedures—especially in collective dwellings and remote, northern, First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities—were redesigned to ensure the census was conducted in the best possible way, using a safe and secure approach.

Question number(s)

Direct variable: Question 51

Responses

Worked at home (including farms); Worked outside Canada; No fixed workplace address; Worked at the address specified (Usual workplace address)

Remarks

Respondent-completed responses

Worked at home (including farms) – Persons whose job is located in the same building as their place of residence, persons who live and work on the same farm and teleworkers who spend most of their work week working at home.

Worked outside Canada – Persons who work at a location outside Canada. This can include diplomats, Armed Forces personnel and other persons enumerated abroad.

No fixed workplace address – Persons who do not go to the same workplace location at the beginning of each shift. Such persons include building and landscape contractors, travelling salespersons, independent truck drivers, etc.

Worked at the address specified (usual workplace address) – Persons who are not included in the categories described above and who report to the same (usual) workplace location at the beginning of each shift are included here. Respondents are asked to provide the street address, city, town, village, township, municipality or Indian reserve, province/territory and postal code of their workplace. If the full street address was not known, the name of the building or nearest street intersection could be substituted.

Teleworkers who spend less than one-half of their workweek working at their home office are asked to report the full address of their employer. Persons whose workplace location varied, but who reported regularly to an employer's address at the beginning of each shift, are asked to report the full address of the employer.

The table below indicates which commuting data are available for each place of work status.

Table 2.7 Commuting data available for each place of work status

Note(s)

Related 2021 data products

More information

Note of appreciation

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Copyright

Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada.

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Industry, 2022

All rights reserved. Use of this publication is governed by the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement.

Catalogue no. 98-301-X

Frequency: Occasional

Ottawa

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