Employment rates, by place of residence and Aboriginal identity

Non-reserve Aboriginal people are more likely to be employed

• In 2001, almost half the population who identified themselves as Aboriginal lived in urban areas, about 30% lived on reserves or settlements, while 20% lived in rural non-reserve areas. Non-Aboriginal people were mostly concentrated in urban areas (80%).
• From 1996 to 2001, the employment rate gap between the Aboriginal and the non-Aboriginal populations aged 15 years and over narrowed, especially in urban areas. In 2001, Aboriginal people living in an urban metropolitan area were more likely to be employed than those living elsewhere.
• In 2001, the employment rate was only 37.7% among the Aboriginal population who lived on-reserve, almost the same rate as in 1996. However, a greater proportion of Aboriginal people living in non-reserve areas had a job in 2001 (54.2%), compared with five years earlier (47.0%). From 1996 to 2001, population growth was strong (+26%) among working-age Aboriginal people both on-reserve and in non-reserve areas, but employment increased more rapidly among those living in non-reserve areas (+44%) than among those living on-reserve (+30%).

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