Post-secondary education boosts employment, narrows the gap
Aboriginals who live off-reserve have a lower employment rate compared to non-Aboriginals, according to Statistics Canada
Aboriginal People Living Off-Reserve and the Labour Market: Estimates from the Labour Force Survey, found the employment rate of Aboriginals aged 25 to 54 living off-reserve in the 10 provinces was 70.1 per cent in 2007, compared to 82.5 per cent for non-Aboriginal people.
The difference between the employment rates for Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals in this age group was smallest in
Between 2004 and 2007, the strength of
Like non-Aboriginals, Aboriginals living off-reserve, with a higher education level, had an employment rate above that of those without a post-secondary diploma.
In 2007, the employment rate of Aboriginals aged 25 to 54 with a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree was 80.2 per cent, compared with 70.4 per cent for those who had completed high school and 51.2 per cent for those who had not.
Education also enabled Aboriginals to reduce the employment rate differences separating them from non-Aboriginals. Aboriginals with a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree had an employment rate 6.3 percentage points lower than their non-Aboriginal counterparts.
In contrast, the employment rate of those without a high school diploma was 14.3 percentage points lower. Still, differences remained between the employment rates of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people for all levels of education.
In 2007, Aboriginals living off-reserve in the 10 provinces represented a significant labour force within the labour market, with 345,000 of them in the labour market. Approximately 250,600 held full-time jobs and 57,800 held part-time jobs, while 36,500 were unemployed.
