Income and Employment

The evidence clearly shows that:

• Nunavut and NWT job markets have jobs available.
• Employment rates for Inuit and NWT aboriginals are very much lower than for non-Inuit and non-Aboriginals.
• Lack of education is the greatest barrier to employment; it is greater for Inuit and NWT Aboriginals than for non-Inuit and non-Aboriginals.

Average Income and Income Support/Social Assistance

The average income per family in Nunavut is $52,624, compared with $75,102 in the NWT and $66,160 for the national average.

In 2005, in the NWT an average of 4.5% of the population received income support. The percent dropped in small communities from 18.4% in 1996 to 7.8% in 2005. In 2005, about 4% of the population in regional centres received income support and 2.4% in Yellowknife.

About 55% of Nunavummiut receive income support at some point during the year ^{Footnote 17}. In Nunavut, income support caseloads increased 1.8% between 1999 and 2002 – an improvement from the early 1990s when caseloads grew 6% per year ^{Footnote 18}.

Unemployment Rates

Nunavut’s unemployment rate ranges from 20.7% to 27.2% depending on the definition: people actively looking for work or people who don’t look for work because they see no available jobs where they live.

In 1999, overall Inuit unemployment rates were 45.4% Inuit compared with 4.5% non-Inuit in the ‘want a job’ category. Inuit between 15 and 24 years of age averaged 48.1% – excluding those still in school or involved entirely in land-based economic activity. People in small and medium communities averaged 41.3% and 45.8% in the ‘want a job’ category, compared with 21.6% in the three regional centres.

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