Employment rates, Canada and the United States

Canada maintains record high employment rate in 2007

• For the last five years, Canada’s employment rate has remained at record levels. In 2007, 64.2% of the Canadian population was employed, compared with 63.0% of the American population.

• From 2006 to 2007, the gap in the rates of the two countries increased even more. During this period, Canada’s employment rate climbed 0.5 percentage points while it inched down 0.1 percentage points in the United States, as employment growth lagged behind population growth.

• Over the 2000 to 2007 period, there were strong increases in the Canadian employment rates, especially for women aged 25 to 54, older workers and youth. In the United States, employment rates were down over the same eight-year period, especially for youth, but also for men and women aged 25 to 54. Older workers were the only group in the United States to experience an increase in their employment rates.

Chart P.2
Employment rates of people aged 16 and over, Canada and the United States, 1976 to 2007

Note: Canadian data have been adjusted to approximate U.S. measurement concepts.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.