The Nunavut Bureau of Statistics’ current indicators page reports the August 2026 Labour Force Survey estimates: a 17,600-person labour force, 15,600 employed people, a 56.2-per-cent employment rate, 2,000 unemployed people and an 11.3-per-cent unemployment rate. Compared with August 2025, the labour force increased by about 1,700 people, while employment increased by about 1,200. Statistics Canada’s August release confirms the year-over-year increase in unemployment and the 1.5-percentage-point rise in the unemployment rate. Separately, Statistics Canada’s August CPI table shows Iqaluit prices were flat from July but 3.4 per cent higher than a year earlier.

The figures show that more Nunavummiut were estimated to be working than a year earlier, but more were also looking for work without finding it. That means the employment increase should not be read as a broad drop in joblessness. The CPI result is Iqaluit-specific, not a measure of prices across every Nunavut community, but it remains the territory’s regularly published inflation indicator.

Statistics Canada is scheduled to release September 2026 Labour Force Survey results on October 9. The next monthly CPI release will show whether Iqaluit’s annual inflation rate moves from the 3.4-per-cent August level.

Territorial Labour Force Survey figures are three-month moving averages and are estimates, not a count of every job or job seeker. The August 2026 data are seasonally adjusted. Statistics Canada notes territorial estimates are not directly comparable with provincial figures. The Nunavut Bureau of Statistics page still displays July 2026 CPI data; the newer original Statistics Canada release, published September 14, shows Iqaluit’s August index was unchanged from July at 150.6 and remained 3.4 per cent above August 2025.