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This publication uses data from the 1991 and 1995 Survey of Work Arrangements to provide in-depth statistical information and analysis on the hours people work, the prevalence of alternative work patterns such as flexitime and home-based work, and the work schedules of families and students. In addition, it looks at wage and non-wage benefits, unionization, job permanence and employer size. Also briefly examined are work hour and income preferences, self-employment, and provincial and sub-provincial data.

Symposium 97 was the fourtheenth international symposium on methodological issues sponsored by Statistics Canada. Each year, the symposium focuses on a particular theme. This year's theme was on new directions in surveys and censuses. The 1997 symposium attracted over 500 people who met over three days at the Palais des Congrès in Hull to listen to over 70 presentations by experts from various statistical and other government agencies, universities and the private sector. Aside from translation and Aormatting, the papers submitted by the presenters have been reproduced in these proceedings.

Inequality in weekly earnings increased in Canada in the 1980s, in conjunction with a drop in real hourly wages of young workers, a fall in the percentage of employees working 35-40 hours per week in their main job, a rise in the fraction of employees working 50 hours per week or more, and a growing tendency for highly paid workers to work long workweeks. The paper examines the role of weekly hours of work and the correlation between hourly wage rates and weekly hours in explaining the rise of inequality in weekly earnings in Canada over the last decade. It also documents changes in the distribution of hourly wages, the growth in the dispersion of weekly hours of work, and the increase in the correlation between hourly wages and weekly hours. The paper concludes with a review of the possible factors behind the rise in weekly earnings inequality in Canada.

This study provides new insights into the timing of events that lead to lone parenthood. In this publication, the family is analyzed by type of union (marriage or common-law), age of mother at time of children's births, level of education and family history. The data cover both men and women and compare various socio-demographic characteristics of lone parent and husband-wife families.