Black History Month 2024... by the numbers: Labour market participation and business ownership

Over the three months leading to the end of December 2023, the employment rate¹ of the Black population aged 25 to 54 was 78.9%, a slight decrease from December 2022 (80.6%).
Among those aged 25 to 54, Black men (81.4%) and Black women (76.4%) had lower employment rates than the averages for all men and all women (87.7% and 81.8%, respectively) in December 2023 (three-month moving averages, not seasonally adjusted).
The unemployment rate² of core-aged Black workers (25 to 54) rose to 8.5% in December 2023 from 6.9% in December 2022.
Core-aged Black men had a higher unemployment rate (9.2%) than core-aged Black women 7.8%. These rates were significantly higher compared to the core-aged total population (4.8% and 4.2%, respectively).
The Canadian-born Black population worked in lower-level occupations relative to their education and were less likely to have full-time, full-year work, compared to the non-racialized third-generation or more population.
In 2021, 16% of Black workers holding a bachelor's degree or higher from a Canadian institution worked in occupations that require a high school diploma or less. This rate is notably higher than the average for the Canadian-educated population (11.1%).
The top occupational groups of the Black population in 2021 were sales and service occupations (28.6%), business, finance, and administration occupations (15.5%), trades, transport, and equipment operators, and related occupations (14.9%) and health occupations (12.9%).
In 2018, there were approximately 66,880 Black business owners in Canada, constituting 2.1% of all business owners.
From 2005 to 2018, the share of Black people among both incorporated and unincorporated business owners (i.e., those commonly referred to as self-employed workers) has increased for both women and men, signalling a growing trend in Black business ownership in Canada.
A majority of Black business owners were men (70.4%) and immigrants (61.4%).

Definitions

¹The employment rate is the number of persons employed expressed as a percentage of the population 15 years of age and over. The employment rate for a particular group (age, sex, marital status, etc.) is the number employed in that group expressed as a percentage of the population for that group. Estimates are percentages, rounded to the nearest tenth. These rates are (three-month moving averages, not seasonally adjusted.

²The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force. The unemployment rate for a particular group (age, sex, marital status, etc.) is the number unemployed in that group expressed as a percentage of the labour force for that group. Estimates are percentages, rounded to the nearest tenth. These rates are (three-month moving averages, not seasonally adjusted.