Employment indexes, by class of worker

The self-employed and private sector employees power employment growth

• The 2.4 million self-employed people in Canada in 2003 represented 15% of all workers. From the mid 1970s to the end of the 1990s, self-employment growth was strong and consistent, even during economic downturns. In fact, in the long term, the pace of self-employment growth has surpassed that of private and public sector employees. However, mostly because of a drop in farm employment, self-employment levels fell in 2000 and 2001.
• In 2003, two in three employed Canadians worked for a private business or firm, accounting for 10.3 million employees. Private sector employees are affected more severely by economic cycles. After falling significantly during the 1990-91 recession, hiring in the private sector resumed with vigour in 1994, averaging annual gains of 2.8% in the years that followed. Canada is currently undergoing the longest period of private sector employee job growth in the last three decades.
• One in five were employed in the public sector in 2003, a decrease from one in four in 1976. The size of the public sector shrank from 1993 to 1998 as a result of cutbacks in the number of civil servants at all levels of government. Since 1998, most of the growth in public sector employment has been in education and health care and social assistance. In 2003, 3.0 million people were employed in the public sector.

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