Statistics Canada will start gathering labour force data by race starting with its July employment report.

Unlike the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the U.S., Statistics Canada’s monthly labour force survey doesn’t track employment conditions by visible minority status, but does include data on immigrants and indigenous Canadians. Income and jobs data by race is, however, collected every five years through the national census.

“The collection of information disaggregated by race and visible minority status will add to the LFS’s ability to provide insights on populations of interest and assist in making evidence-based decisions in support of the recovery,” Martin Magnan, a spokesman at Statistics Canada, said Thursday by email.

In the statement, Magnan acknowledged the social, economic and labour market impacts of COVID-19 have not been equally felt by all Canadians. The July employment report is scheduled to be released Aug. 7.

The statistics agency is also developing statistical techniques to allow it to disaggregate data by race in previously released numbers, Magnan said.

According to the 2016 census, South Asians are the largest visible minority in the country, followed by Chinese and Black Canadians.