The goal of {canpumf} is to facilitate ingesting StatCan PUMF data in R.
Installation
You can install the current development version of canpumf from GitHub with:
remotes::install_github("mountainmath/canpumf")Documentation
Please consult the documentation and example articles for further information.
StatCan publishes an official guide to the Labour Force Survey for different vintages of the LFS.
Cache path
PUMF data can be large and should be cached locally. Set the canpumf.cache_path option to a local directory via options(canpumf.cache_path="<your local path>") in your .Rprofile. Without this, data is stored in tempdir() for the session only.
DuckDB
On first use PUMF data is imported into DuckDB. By default a PUMF DuckDB connection will be shown in the RStudio (or Positron) Connections Pane once a connection is opened, you control the default behaviour by setting the canpumf.register_connection optin in your .Rprofile:
options("canpumf.register_connection" = TRUE)Basic usage
Some PUMF data is available from StatCan via direct download and can be accessed directly via get_pumf(). In other cases, PUMF data must be ordered via EFT and deposited in the cache directory so get_pumf() can find it.
get_pumf() downloads (if needed), parses metadata, applies value labels automatically, and returns a lazy dplyr::tbl() backed by a local DuckDB database. Call dplyr::collect() to load into memory.
Column values are labeled automatically (e.g. province codes become factor levels like "British Columbia"). Column names remain as short coded names by default (e.g. PROV, LFSSTAT). To rename columns to human-readable variable labels, pipe through label_pumf_columns():
tbl <- get_pumf("LFS", "2022") |>
label_pumf_columns()When done querying, release the DuckDB connection with close_pumf(tbl).
LFS data
LFS data is organized by year, except for the current year where it is organized by month. To access data for a specific year:
lfs_2022 <- get_pumf("LFS", "2022")This downloads the 2022 LFS PUMF data if needed, parses it, loads labeled data into a shared DuckDB database, and returns a lazy tbl filtered to 2022. To access all LFS data currently in the local database:
lfs_all_local <- get_pumf("LFS")To ensure the local database contains all available LFS versions, use refresh = "auto". This checks StatCan for versions not yet in the database and imports them:
lfs_all <- get_pumf("LFS", refresh = "auto")Census data
The canpumf package supports Census PUMF from 1971 through 2021. All releases from 1991 onward are available via direct download; years 1986 and earlier must be ordered through Statistics Canada’s EFT portal and placed in the cache directory.
pumf_2021 <- get_pumf("Census", "2021")By default the package loads the individuals file. Available variants by year:
| Years | Variants |
|---|---|
| 2021 | individuals, hierarchical |
| 2016 | individuals, hierarchical |
| 2011 | individuals (NHS), hierarchical (NHS) |
| 2006 | individuals, hierarchical |
| 2001 | individuals, households, families |
| 1996 | individuals, households, families |
| 1991 | individuals, households, families |
| 1986 | individuals, households |
| 1981 | individuals, households |
| 1976 | individuals |
| 1971 | individuals, individuals PR |
pumf_h_2016 <- get_pumf("Census", "2016 (hierarchical)")Verified datasets
The following datasets have been end-to-end tested (metadata parsed, data imported, DuckDB built) without errors or warnings. Versions marked direct download can be fetched automatically by get_pumf(); others must be placed in the cache directory via Statistics Canada’s EFT portal.
| Survey | Series | Verified versions | Direct download |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Force Survey | LFS | annual and monthly files | ✓ |
| Census of Population | Census | 2021 (individuals, hierarchical), 2016 (individuals, hierarchical), 2011 (individuals, hierarchical), 2006 (individuals, hierarchical), 2001 (individuals, households, families), 1996 (individuals, households, families), 1991 (individuals, households, families) | ✓ |
| Census of Population (EFT) | Census | 1986 (individuals, households, families), 1981 (individuals, households), 1976 (individuals, households, families), 1971 (individuals, households, families — prov and cma variants) | — |
| General Social Survey — Caregiving | GSS | 1996, 2007, 2012, 2018 | ✓ |
| General Social Survey — Safety | GSS | Safety 1993, Safety 1999, Safety 2014, Safety 2019 | ✓ |
| General Social Survey — Family | GSS | Family 1995, Family 2001, Family 2011, Family 2017 | ✓ |
| General Social Survey — Social Identity | GSS | Social Identity 2003, Social Identity 2013, Social Identity 2020 | ✓ |
| General Social Survey — Education | GSS | Education 1994, Education 2002, Education 2007 | ✓ |
| General Social Survey — Time Use | GSS | Time Use 1998, Time Use 2010, Time Use 2015, Time Use 2022 | ✓ |
| GSS Giving, Volunteering and Participating | SGVP | 1997, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2018, 2023 | ✓ |
| Canadian COVID-19 Antibody and Health Survey | CCAHS | 1 | ✓ |
| International Travel Survey | ITS | 2018, 2019 | ✓ |
| Canadian Housing Survey | CHS | 2018, 2021, 2022 | ✓ |
| Survey of Financial Security | SFS | 1999, 2005, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2023 | ✓ |
| Canadian Perspectives Survey Series | CPSS | 2–6 | ✓ |
| Canadian Income Survey | CIS | 2017–2022 | ✓ |
| Survey of Household Spending | SHS | 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023 | ✓ |
Related packages
The cansim package is designed to retrieve and work with public Statistics Canada data tables. cansim prepares retrieved data tables as analysis-ready tidy dataframes and provides a number of convenience tools and functions to make it easier to work with Statistics Canada data. It is available on CRAN and on Github.
The cancensus package is designed to retrieve and work with public Statistics Canada census data via the CensusMapper API. It is available on CRAN and on Github.
Cite canpumf
If you wish to cite the canpumf package in your work:
von Bergmann, J. (2026), canpumf: Import StatCan PUMF data into R. v0.5.0.
A BibTeX entry for LaTeX users is
@Manual{,
author = {Jens {von Bergmann}},
title = {canpumf: Import StatCan PUMF data into R},
year = {2026},
note = {R package version 0.5.0},
url = {https://mountainmath.github.io/canpumf/},
}Statistics Canada Attribution
Subject to the Statistics Canada Open Data License Agreement, licensed products using Statistics Canada data should employ the following acknowledgement of source:
Acknowledgment of Source
(a) You shall include and maintain the following notice on all licensed rights of the Information:
- Source: Statistics Canada, name of product, reference date. Reproduced and distributed on an "as is" basis with the permission of Statistics Canada.
(b) Where any Information is contained within a Value-added Product, you shall include on such Value-added Product the following notice:
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, name of product, reference date. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.