The latest Labour Force Survey figures show Nunavut’s employment rate was 56.2% in August 2026, up 3.1 percentage points from August 2025. The labour force — people working or actively looking for work — grew by 1,700 over the year, while employment grew by 1,200. That left the number of unemployed people up by 400 and the unemployment rate at 11.3%, unchanged from July but above the 9.8% recorded a year earlier. Source↗

The Nunavut Bureau of Statistics lists labour-force data among its current economic indicators and identifies Statistics Canada as the source. Source↗

The figures show more Nunavummiut were working than a year earlier, but job growth did not match the increase in people seeking work. An unemployment rate measures the share of the labour force that is looking for work and has not found it; it does not include people who are not seeking work.

Statistics Canada’s next monthly Labour Force Survey release will provide the next three-month moving-average estimate for Nunavut. The August figure is not a count from a single month: it combines survey results from June, July and August.

Statistics Canada reports territorial labour figures as three-month moving averages because monthly samples are too small for reliable standalone estimates. Its August table lists a standard error of 0.9 percentage points for Nunavut’s unemployment rate and 0.8 percentage points for its employment rate. The Nunavut Bureau’s published June brief also notes that its Labour Force Survey reporting covers the territory’s 10 largest communities, representing about 92% of residents aged 15 and older; results should therefore be read as survey estimates, not a complete administrative count. Source↗