The NWT’s employment rate in June was 70.8 percent, down from the exceptional heights of last year but still the strongest in Canada, the territory’s bureau of statistics says.
Employment rates matter because they help to show how many people are in work and, as a consequence, how hard employers might find it to hire people.
Last year, as the territory’s employment rate rose to 75 percent, a “really hot labour market” meant widespread vacancies. In Yellowknife, some retail stores and restaurants closed for days at a time through a lack of staff.
This summer, the employment rate is down 3.5 percentage points on June last year but remains the second-highest for this time of year in the past decade.
Overall, the employment rate is settling at a point slightly higher than it was in the years immediately preceding the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Canada’s average employment rate is 62.8 percent. The Yukon has the second-highest rate behind the NWT, at 70.3 percent, well ahead of third-placed Alberta at 66.1 percent.
The NWT’s participation rate – the proportion of people actively in the job market – also remains high at 76 percent. Generally, when participation rates and employment rates are both high, that indicates a tight labour market, suggesting almost all people looking for work are quickly finding it.
