Equity Report Two: Aboriginals in the Workforce

Originally Published:
Planet S Magazine
March 14 - March 28, 2007 Volume 5: Issue 15
Page 9

The headline of the Government of Saskatchewan news release, issued on March 9, was positively ecstatic: “Job Numbers Sizzling.” According to the province, we’ve just come through the best February in history for employment numbers in Saskatchewan, and—not surprisingly—the lowest unemployment rate on record for that month as well. Job numbers were up in construction, services, trade and finance, insurance and real estate, and the oil, gas and mining industries.

Obviously, the figures do present a bit of a double-edged sword in terms of the very real labour crunch the province is facing, with businesses scrambling to find employees. Yet somehow—although moderate gains have been made in recent years—an exceedingly large pool of potential workers remains essentially untapped in Saskatchewan—the Aboriginal community.

According to Statistics Canada, the rate of unemployment nationally among Aboriginals is 2.5 times greater than among non-Aboriginals. Perhaps most depressingly, this actually represents an improvement, as employment increased by 23 per cent for Aboriginals—compared to 11 per cent for non-Aboriginals—between 2001 and 2005.

According to Eric Howe, a professor of economics at the U of S with a special interest in Aboriginal economic development, the ‘good news’ portion of these statistics—pointing to an increase in employment for Aboriginals relative to non-Aboriginals—is at least cause for hope.

“With a continuing development of appropriate social policies, such as the increasing number of educational programs for Aboriginal people, cautious optimism is appropriate,” says Howe.

But while the increasing employment of Aboriginal people across the country in comparison to non-Aboriginals is a welcome development, Aboriginals are, disconcertingly, not seeing a corresponding increase in their average wage as compared to non-Aboriginals. According to Howe, this has a lot to do with the kinds of jobs Aboriginals have been receiving.

“The increased employment rate is filling in the job distribution—so although there are more Aboriginal people who are employed, disproportionately many of the additional workers are in less well-paying jobs, which keeps the average from rising as much as it does for a typical Aboriginal worker,” he says.

So what’s the key for improving both employment rates and wages for Aboriginal people? Obviously, this is a complex issue—entrenched attitudes of racism in the larger society continue to keep Aboriginals out of the workforce, and the resulting sense of isolation and hopelessness many Aboriginal people feel only compounds the issue. But according to Howe, doing everything we can to raise Aboriginal education levels is a crucial first step.

The stats bear this out—showing that, with postsecondary education, Aboriginal employment rates across Canada nearly mirror that of non-Aboriginals. Aboriginal people who have some form of postsecondary education experience an employment rate of 82.5 percent, just one percentile short of their non-Aboriginal counterparts. Sadly, Saskatchewan’s employment gap for Aboriginals with a postsecondary education is a little wider—with Aboriginals at 80.0 percent and non-Aboriginals at 86.1 percent. Still, the point stands: the spread of higher education in the Aboriginal community generally leads to an improved economic position.

Working towards increased postsecondary education for Aboriginal people is a complex task, perhaps, but one which is nonetheless within our control—depending on the will of federal and provincial governments to commit to programs that work, such as subsidising the cost of higher education. But as Howe points out, there are other relevant factors affecting the economic potential of Aboriginals—and some of them will be much more difficult to address.

Where you happen to live in Canada, for instance, plays a large role in deciding whether or not you have a job if you’re Aboriginal. Simply put, some provinces are just doing better than others when it comes to Aboriginal equality in the workforce. And Saskatchewan is not one of them.

We have the largest employment rate gap between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals in Western Canada. Furthermore, Saskatoon and Regina, with their large Aboriginal populations, are the biggest culprits.

Why is the level of employment so poor here? One reason, says Howe, has to do with where Saskatchewan’s Aboriginal population has traditionally lived—and the lengths they have to go to in order to join in the province’s employment boom.

“Probably the most important difference is that between reserves in Saskatchewan as opposed to elsewhere in Canada,” Howe says. “Most of Saskatchewan’s reserves are located in rural areas. As we all know, job growth in our province is almost entirely an urban phenomenon.

“Consequently, when Aboriginal people in Saskatchewan seek a job—and move to where the jobs are—they have to leave the reserve to move to urban areas. For many of the reserves in the remainder of Canada, they can stay on reserve until they get a job and decide to move,” Howe explains.

For Aboriginals in Saskatchewan, this means leaving their home—and often their families—behind in order to seek employment that is by no means assured. Thankfully, the rise in urban reserves—most notably the successful Muskeg Lake Cree Nation urban reserve in Saskatoon—and the work of groups like the Saskatoon Tribal Council, has increased the level of support available to Aboriginals arriving in the province’s cities. It’s a start, at least, on the long road to equality.