The Black populations are the third-largest racialized group in Canada (1.55 million people in 2021) and are among the fastest-growing.Footnote 1 In 2025, they continued to be the second-largest racialized group in the Canadian labour force.Footnote 2 Exploring the diversity within Black populations — such as differences in gender, immigrant and generation status, and disability — can provide valuable insights into varied labour market experiences and challenges and supports the Second United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent which spans from 2025 to 2034.
Black populations in the Canadian labour marketFootnote 3
- The Black populations make up 5.5% of the Canadian labour force, reaching over 1.2 million people in 2025, with most (70.0%) being of core working age (25 to 54 years).Footnote 4
- Among the Black populations of core working age in 2021, the employment rate (73.7%) was lower, and their unemployment rate (11.8%) was higher compared with those of the total racialized and total Canadian populations.
- The largest proportion of Black immigrants of core working age in the Canadian labour force were born in Africa (39.1%), with over half having arrived in Canada from 2011 to 2021.
- African-born Black immigrants were highly educated in 2021, with 46.1% holding a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 37.5% among the overall Black populations.
- Many degree holders among African-born Black immigrants were overqualified (27.5%), performing jobs requiring a high school diploma at most. This overqualification rate was almost twice as high for African-born Black immigrants who completed their degree outside Canada (35.2%) than for those who completed it inside Canada (17.7%).
- In 2021, Caribbean-born Black immigrants had higher employment (77.6%) and lower unemployment rates (9.6%) compared to other Black populations.Footnote 5
- Compared with the overall Black populations, in 2021, third generation-or-more Black populations (born in Canada with all parents born in Canada) had a lower employment rate (64.8%) and a higher unemployment rate (15.7%). In 2020, they also had lower median annual employment income ($43,200).
Black women in the Canadian labour market
- While Black women generally had lower labour market outcomes than Black men in 2021, second-generation Black women (born in Canada with at least one parent born abroad) had a higher employment rate than their men counterparts (72.9% compared with 72.1%) and a lower unemployment rate (12.6% compared with 14.3%). The gender gap in employment income was also lower for this group in 2020 ($1,200).
- In 2021, among core-aged workers (25 to 54 years), Black women represented 4.2% of women non-managers, 2.5% of women middle managers, and 2.0% of women senior managers — below the proportion of Black individuals among core-aged women (4.7%).Footnote 6
- According to the 2021 Census of Population, among women, Black women had the second-lowest self-employment rate (6.0%) of all population groups. This was also the case in 2001.Footnote 7
- In 2021, the occupations with the highest share of self-employed Black women were light duty cleaners (5.6%), early childhood educators and assistants (4.1%), hairstylists and barbers (3.9%), nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates (3.7%), and retail and wholesale trade managers (3.7%). Apart from retail and wholesale trade managers, none of these occupations were top self-employment occupations among Black men.Footnote 8
Black persons with disabilities' experiences in the Canadian labour marketFootnote 9
- In 2022, 5.5% of Black persons with disabilities aged 25 to 64 believed they had been refused a job interview in the past five years because of their condition. This rate was lower than the non-racialized, non-Indigenous populations (6.3%), and the total population (6.9%).
- Black persons with disabilities aged 25 to 64 also reported the lowest rate of job refusal (7.1%) and promotion refusal (7.2%) due to their condition in the past five years. These rates were lower than both the non-racialized, non-Indigenous populations (9.6% and 9.0%, respectively), and the total population (10.2% and 9.6%, respectively).
- By contrast, in the past five years, 42.5% of Black persons with disabilities aged 25 to 64 considered themselves to be disadvantaged in employment, and 36.7% believed their current employer or a potential employer would likely consider them disadvantaged in employment — the highest rates among the four largest racialized groups.
Self-employment and gig workFootnote 10 among Black CanadiansFootnote 11
- Based on the average for the fourth quarter of the 2022 and 2023 Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the LFS supplements, the Black populations were overrepresented among gig workers — 43.0% of self-employed individuals among the Black populations were gig workers, compared with 26.6% among the total population in Canada.
- Black workers also had a lower self-employment rate (6.2%) than the overall population (13.2%) in 2023.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and the Black labour forceFootnote 12Footnote 13
- In 2021, of the 542,600 Black employees in Canada aged 18-64, an estimated 32.0% were in jobs that had tasks which could potentially be replaced by AI in the future, 23.0% were in jobs that may benefit from but whose tasks are unlikely to be replaced by AI anytime soon, and 45.0% were in occupations potentially less exposed to AI.
- The share of Black employees in jobs that had tasks which could potentially be replaced by AI in the future (32.0%) was slightly higher than their counterparts among the non-racialized (29.0%) and total (31.0%) populations.
- The share of Black employees in jobs that may benefit from but whose tasks are unlikely to be replaced by AI anytime soon (23.0%) was lower compared to their counterparts among the non-racialized (31.0%) and total (29.0%) populations.
- Black employees were also more likely to hold jobs potentially less exposed to AI (45.0%) relative to the non-racialized (40.0%) and total (40.0%) populations.