Favourable Trends Emerge for Aboriginals
Jun 15, 2009
benefit, education, employment, trend, workforce
Last Week TD Economics released a report that examines some of the key opportunities and challenges that affect the economic well-being of aboriginal peoples in Canada.
In general, the trends revealed in the study are positive ones. This is a good thing for provinces like Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where aboriginal peoples make up 15 percent of the population – more than any other province.
The first trend outlined in the study is that aboriginal communities in general are seeking out more opportunities in the market economy. There are as many as 27,000 businesses operating both on and off reserve. This is a very positive sign.
Secondly, Canadian companies have come to realize the value of partnering with aboriginal communities. Many companies realize the impending labour shortages they will face and are actively seeking solutions. One way of doing this is to tap into traditionally under-represented populations such as aboriginals.
Third, the federal and provincial governments are increasingly linking aboriginal education and social issues with Canada’s future prosperity challenges. Improving their standard of living and quality of life will only help serve the broader economy.
This alignment of interests between the business and aboriginal communities has coincided with improved economic outcomes. Between 2001 and 2006, the share of aboriginals participating in the workforce rose faster than that of other Canadians. From 1996 to 2006, the unemployment rate for aboriginals fell by almost half. Furthermore, aboriginal people experienced more rapid income gains on average than the rest of the Canadian population in the first part of this decade.
A lot of this success is attributable to resource and construction booms. Even those without high-school diplomas were able to get well-paying jobs. However, once these booms ended, most of these people were left vulnerable. In fact, aboriginal employment suffered a significant drop in the past year.
The report identifies a good education as being the best economic buffer. The income and employment gap has been virtually eliminated for aboriginals with university degrees. This is where the greatest opportunity and challenge lies for aboriginals in Canada. The share of those competing high school between 2001 and 2006 increased, but not enough to keep up with the non-aboriginal population, leading to a widening in the education gap.
The report goes on to examine some of the possible ways that this gap can be addressed so that aboriginals can continue to be integrated into the workforce.
In sum, the alignment of interests between aboriginals, business and government is a positive trend and has the promise of breaking down barriers and helping build a better and more prosperous future for aboriginal communities and for our country. The entire report can be accessed at www.td.com/economics.
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Don't even talk about things improving for aboriginals until we have running water on every reserve in Canada. We have communities with thousands of people just hours from Winnipeg with no running water and no sewage system. We should be ashamed of ourselves.
Jim Cotton - 2009-06-21 11:48