Mon, 13 Jun 2005

CBC News

Unemployment rates for native people living off-reserve in Western Canada are more than 2˝ times higher than for non-native people, says Statistics Canada.

The job market is particularly tough for those aged 15 to 24.

Despite the gloomy news, researchers say the workforce picture for aboriginal people is actually improving.

Their unemployment rate dropped to 13.6 per cent this year from 16.7 per cent in 2001. That was still more than twice the 5.3 per cent rate among the non-aboriginal population.

The unemployment rate measures the percentage of employable people looking for work, out of the total number of employable people.

On the flip side, the employment rate, which measures the percentage of those of working-age who have jobs, also shows improvement among native people in the western provinces.

The percentage of off-reserve native people who had a job rose to 57.2 this year from 54.2 per cent in 2001. That's below the 65.2 per cent job rate for non-native people.

Researchers say that Métis were much more likely to have jobs than North American Indians – 63.7 per cent compared with 50.1 per cent.

The study also found that education levels the playing field. Those aged 25 to 64 who finished post-secondary studies had an employment rate of 82.5 per cent, only slightly below the 83.5 per cent rate for non-native people.

Comments

Gloomy news? Written by Peter D on 2005-06-14 10:20:59 While many in the media have painted this as gloomy news, I think it is important to look at the big picture. Unemployment for Aboriginal peoples fell 3.1 % over a 4 year period - this is good news. I think sometimes that we have to remind ourselves that change takes time, a long time in fact, and that the disparity between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples will not change over night.

changes Written by bigt on 2005-06-14 14:21:35 yeah, you're right that it is good to see things equalizing, particularly among those younger people with similar educational attainment. but it is important that things aren't fixed yet, and we need to keep working.

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