3-month moving average: Data from this report uses 3-month moving average (3MMA). Three-month moving averages are calculated by averaging a specific month with the two preceding ones (for example, March 2009 data is calculated using the averages for January, February and March 2009). Moving averages are used to reduce irregular variability in the data due to seasonal variations and the small sample sizes of the LFS. Please note that this data is not comparable to the data released by Statistics Canada in The Daily. Data from The Daily is seasonally adjusted, while this data is not.

Full-time employment: Proportion of individuals holding full-time employment among those who are employed. A person is considered to be full-time if his/her usual hours at the main job are 30 or more hours per week. When the number of hours worked at the main job is usually less than 30 hours per week then he/she is considered to be part-time. For more information, see this link.

Immigrants: Includes permanent residents and those who have been naturalized as Canadian citizens.

Non-permanent residents: Includes non-permanent residents, visa workers, temporary foreign workers, refugee claimants, students and their dependants, etc. Excludes Canadian-born and landed immigrants.

Participation rate: The participation rate represents the labour force expressed as a percentage of the population 15 years of age and over. The participation rate for a particular group (age, sex, etc.) is the labour force in that group expressed as a percentage of the population for that group. For more information, see this link.

Recent immigrants: Includes immigrants who landed within the last 5 years.

Toronto CMA: Toronto CMA: CMA stands for Census Metropolitan Area. The Toronto CMA is the grey-shaded area in Figure 1. It includes the City of Toronto, York Region, Peel Region and parts of Halton and Durham Regions. Other municipalities, such as New Tecumseth in southern Simcoe County and Mono Township in Dufferin County are also included in the Toronto CMA. CMAs are geographical areas mainly used by Statistics Canada. For more information, see: http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/ reference/ dictionary/geo009.cfm.

Unemployment rate: The unemployment rate represents the number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force. The unemployment rate for a particular group (age, sex, etc.) is the number unemployed in that group expressed as a percentage of the labour force for that group. For more information, see this link.