Employment rate

Understanding the employment rate

What is the employment rate?

The employment rate is the share of the total working-age population that is actively employed. It is closely related to the participation rate but focuses only on employed individuals.

Because the employment rate is calculated using the working-age population, it can be interpreted as “X% of the overall Canadian population is employed.”

What does the employment rate tell us about imbalances?

The employment rate, like the participation rate, offers insight into the overall structure of the labour market and can help reveal underlying issues when interpreted alongside other indicators. For example, a stable employment rate over time might signal a stable, healthy and labour market.

However, if the participation rate is declining while the employment rate is, that would mean the total number of employed persons was actually declining over time. Long-term, a trend like this could lead to a declining contributing tax base for a region and labour shortages if the total amount of available labour and employed persons continues to decline.

Table notes

• The employment rate is calculated as the number of employed individuals divided by the working-age population.
• Data is sourced from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey (LFS).
• It should be interpreted alongside other indicators, such as the participation rate and unemployment rate, to assess broader labour market conditions and potential imbalances.
• Data for provinces is available from January 1976 onwards, while data for territories is available from March 1992 onwards for Yukon, and January 2001 and January 2004 for Northwest Territories and Nunavut, respectively.
• Data is collected separately for provinces and territories; overall Canadian rates reflect provincial data only, while territories data is provided as three-month moving averages due to sample size constraints.