Following months of record low employment rates, the NWT’s labour force saw a 500 person boost in July.
Employment rates rose across all territories and provinces nationally with the highest recorded numbers in the Yukon, at 66.3 per cent, NWT, 62.2 per cent, and Saskatchewan, 60.3 per cent. Combined, it boosted the national employment rate to 56.2 per cent, according to the NWT Bureau of Statistics.
In spite of the almost two per cent monthly increase, the territory’s employment rate is still down more than seven per cent from where it stood this time last year.
The demographic with the largest increase in employment rates was Indigenous males living outside of Yellowknife.
Labour force increases were concentrated primarily in service industries such as information, culture and recreation, as well as in transportation and warehousing, as opposed to goods producing industries that saw little change between June and July.
“These changes suggest an increase in economic activities following the relaxation of constraints introduced to contain the coronavirus pandemic,” the Bureau of Statistics said in a news release.
