Canada
CA desk: Canada first; United States, United Kingdom, euro area, Australia, Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand alongside.
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As of 2025 | % of population ages 15+
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 64.52% |
| 2024 | 64.74% |
| 2023 | 65.36% |
| 2022 | 65.25% |
| 2021 | 65.19% |
| 2020 | 64.10% |
| 2019 | 65.81% |
| 2018 | 65.55% |
| 2017 | 65.79% |
| 2016 | 65.64% |
| 2015 | 65.89% |
| 2014 | 66.02% |
| 2013 | 66.54% |
| 2012 | 66.56% |
| 2011 | 66.59% |
| 2010 | 66.73% |
| 2009 | 66.95% |
| 2008 | 67.27% |
| 2007 | 67.11% |
| 2006 | 66.83% |
| 2005 | 66.73% |
| 2004 | 67.06% |
| 2003 | 67.11% |
| 2002 | 66.39% |
Labour force participation is the share of people ages 15 and over who are employed or unemployed (SL.TLF.CACT.ZS). It is not the unemployment rate. Latest: 64.52% in 2025.
A falling unemployment rate can coincide with people leaving the labour force. This series is the usual check. From 1990 to 2025 (36 years): mean 65.76%, median 65.72%; low 64.10% (2020), high 67.27% (2008).
Source: World Bank Open Data. Licence: CC BY 4.0 (terms).
This series is the labour-force participation rate for people aged 15 and over: the share who are either employed or unemployed and looking for work. The source is World Bank Open Data indicator SL.TLF.CACT.ZS, an ILO modelled estimate. It measures who is in the labour market, not what they earn, and it is not the same as the employment ratio: unemployed people count in the numerator here but not there.
Participation reflects retirement ages, education, caring responsibilities and social norms as well as job availability, so levels differ for reasons that have little to do with the unemployment rate. The series is modelled from national surveys and censuses and is revised periodically. Use the chart and range buttons to follow one economy and the ranked ledger to compare latest published years. Treat small cross-country gaps with caution, because the estimate carries uncertainty where survey coverage is thin. A fall can mean people left the labour force rather than lost work, so read it with the unemployment rate.
The Canada desk puts Canada first and shows the United States, the United Kingdom, the euro area, Australia, Mexico and New Zealand alongside, as far as each series covers them. The values are the same World Bank ILO modelled estimates as the all-countries pages, filtered to this desk; nothing is recomputed. On the headline unemployment page Taiwan is also shown, using the IMF World Economic Outlook, because the World Bank does not publish a Taiwanese rate.
Switch desks with the Country selector, use the Chart and Table tabs to view one dataset two ways, and shorten the period with the range buttons. Each page names its indicator, source and licence. Where a source does not publish an economy, the desk shows the related economies it does publish rather than an estimate, and the value is simply absent. The desk adds no estimate of its own to the published series.