Employment rate drops in 2018 in Nunavut, east-Arctic Canada
Nunavut’s employment rate dropped from 55 per cent in 2017 to 54 per cent in 2018, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent update.
Last year, there were 13,500 people with jobs in the territory and more than 2,000 people looking for work — most people looking for work were Inuit.
Nunavut has the second lowest employment rate in all of Canada, only Newfoundland and Labrador is lower with a 51 per cent employment rate.
The Inuit employment rate sits at 45 per cent, down from 47 per cent, while nearly all non-Inuit are employed (91 per cent).
Inuit make up two-thirds of the workforce, despite being 80 per cent of the population.
The work force grew by 100 employed people, but the population grew more than that — the number of people 15 years old and older in the territory went from 24,300 to 25,100.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Boom times ahead in two of Canada’s northern territories, report says, CBC News
Finland: Spike in seasonal workers causes tax office backlog in northern Finland, Yle News
Russia: Shrinking workforce a growing problem for Murmansk’s economy, The Independent Barents Observer
