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Description

LABFORCE is a dichotomous variable identifying whether a person participated in the labor force. Persons aged 15 and below reporting any gainful occupation are categorized as 1 - No, not in labor force.

Participation is defined as reporting any gainful occupation, as recorded in OCC50US for the United States censuses, OCCGB, and OCCHISCO. Note that gainful employment definitions of labor force participation are different from the modern concept of labor force participation, defined as working or seeking work within a specific reference week.

Housewives, students, and those who reported "retired" in their occupation, have been classified as code 1 - No, not in labor force. Unclassifiable includes those with a non-occupational response.

Comparability

Several groups of workers may be enumerated in different ways under the gainful employment definition.

• Seasonal or irregular workers who did not work in the week before the census may nevertheless report their customary occupation.
• People who have retired but nevertheless identify with a particular occupation may report an occupation.
• Some scholars argue that the labor force and gainful employment definitions create an additional disparity in the measurement of married female labor. Historically, occupational status was inherently somewhat ambiguous for married women, who might have considered their principal occupation "housewife" despite other labor they performed. The labor force concept instituted in 1940 removed some of this ambiguity by treating even a single hour of paid employment as labor force participation. For years prior to 1940, users should carefully examine the enumerator instructions for each year with respect to women and children, since the criteria for gainful employment changed between censuses. Even later censuses applied special rules for the treatment of unpaid family labor.

Iceland: In the 1801 and 1901 samples, those who had no occupation or whose occupation was unknown were classified together under "Unknown".

Norway: In the 1801 sample, those who had no occupation or whose occupation was unknown were classified together under "Unknown".

Universe

Availability

• Canada: 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901
• Great Britain: 1851, 1881, 1881
• Iceland: 1801, 1901
• Mecklenburg: 1819
• Norway: 1801, 1865, 1875, 1900
• Sweden: 1900
• United States: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1880, 1900, 1910