55
Nine educational categories out of fourteen experienced a fall in the gap between the
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal employment rates. A particularly noticeable improvement was
made in the category of persons with a bachelor‘s degree, since the employment rate for them
was only 56.2 per cent in 1996, 9.7 points lower than the non-Aboriginal population in this
category. By increasing their employment rate by 22.1 points to reach 78.3 per cent in 2001, this
group managed to eliminate the entire gap from 1996 to 2001. They were the only group in 2001
to enjoy an employment rate at the level of the non-Aboriginal population. Another major
improvement was for collegial trade certificate holders, who had only a 50.8 per cent
employment rate in 1996. It rose up to 68.6 per cent in 2001, thus lowering the gap by 6.7 points.
Chart 15: Employment Rate by Educational Attainment for Aboriginal and
Source: Census 1996 and 2001
In 1996, Aboriginal Canadians in two categories of educational attainment had
employment rates higher than the non-Aboriginal population: those with master‘s degrees and
those who frequented college without graduating. Unfortunately, both groups experienced a
decline in their employment rates between 1996 and 2001.
In general, one of the direct consequence of living on-reserve is a significant reduction in
employment opportunities. Hence, we would expect the on-reserve/off divide to clearly emerge
in the form of different employment rates. This is indeed reflected in the data: while the
employment rate of Aboriginal Canadians living on-reserve was 34.4 per cent in 2001, that of
Aboriginal Canadians living off-reserve was 54.4 per cent (Chart 13).