Detailed Sub-Group Analysis:

Employment status is not a good predictor of Internet access.

• Employment groups with the highest levels of access are students, term or casual employed, full-time employed, self employed, and part-time employed.
• Students and full-time workers are the most likely Internet users.
• Unemployed Canadians have average access levels, with about two in three reporting recent Internet access.
• Home makers and retired Canadians have significantly lower levels of access.
• Cost is the main barrier for students, seasonal workers and the unemployed.

For overall Internet access, there continues to be a deep divide based on type of job. Type of job is a predictor of access.

• More than two thirds of professional, managerial and administrative workers have access from home and have used the Internet in the past three months.
• Labourers (43%), Semi-skilled (50%) and Trades persons (50%) are considerably less likely to have home access, and are only somewhat more likely to have used the Internet in some other location.
• Sales, service and clerical workers are close to the mean on the level of overall home access (60%).

“Have” and “have not” provinces continue to reflect differences in levels of access to the Internet.

• Home access continues to remain highest in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, and significantly lower in Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland.
• Lack of interest or need are the main reasons for not having home access, with the cost effect being strongest in Alberta.