Indigenous peoples economic account, 2022
Press Release
Apr 16, 2025
Gross domestic income (GDI), also known as income-based gross domestic product, earned by Indigenous people (Indigenous GDI) reached $60.2 billion in 2022, up 9.8% from 2021. This represented 2.3% of total Canadian GDI generated in 2022. Since 2012, Indigenous GDI has increased by 74.7%, outpacing GDI growth in the total economy (+54.0%).
There was growth in Indigenous GDI across many sectors in 2022.
The public administration (+$1.3 billion) and construction (+$0.7 billion) sectors contributed the most to the overall growth of Indigenous GDI in 2022, accounting for just under one-third (30.4%).
In 2022, Indigenous GDI grew at the fastest pace in the arts, entertainment and recreation (+30.6%) and mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (+21.1%) sectors. Combined, these sectors accounted for 6.8% of Indigenous GDI.
Widespread job growth continues in 2022
In 2022, the number of jobs held by Indigenous people in Canada grew by 4.4% year over year to reach nearly 887,000. Nearly 1 in 22 jobs in Canada were held by Indigenous people in 2022. In the 2021 Census of Population, Indigenous people accounted for 5.0% of the total population in Canada, ranging from 2.2% in Prince Edward Island to 85.7% in Nunavut.
From 2012 to 2022, the number of jobs held by Indigenous people grew 29.5%, compared with a 12.2% growth in jobs for the entire economy. Indigenous-held jobs significantly outpaced the growth of total economy jobs for health care and social assistance (+42,000 jobs), public administration (+27,000 jobs) and retail trade (+21,000 jobs). These three sectors contributed the most to the growth in the number of jobs held by Indigenous people during this period; combined, they accounted for 40.6% of all jobs held by Indigenous people in 2022.
Gross domestic income and jobs rise in every province and territory
Indigenous GDI and jobs held by Indigenous people grew in every province and territory in 2022.
Prince Edward Island (+13.8%), British Columbia (+12.7%) and New Brunswick (+11.4%) saw the largest growth in Indigenous GDI in 2022. The largest growth in jobs held by Indigenous people occurred in Nunavut (+6.0%), Alberta (+5.7%) and Ontario (+5.6%).
In 2022, the proportion of total provincial GDI earned by Indigenous people ranged from 1.2% in Prince Edward Island to 7.9% in Manitoba. For the territories, Nunavut (25.1%) had the largest share of GDI attributable to Indigenous people, while Yukon (13.4%) had the smallest.
Shift in provincial and territorial contributions to total Indigenous gross domestic income and jobs over time
Most provinces and territories saw little change since 2012 in their contributions to total Indigenous GDI or total Indigenous-held jobs, but there were exceptions.
British Columbia’s share of Indigenous GDI increased from 14.4% in 2012 to 18.1% in 2022, while Ontario’s share increased from 21.5% to 23.7%. Much of these gains were attributable to strong growth in Indigenous GDI for the public administration and construction sectors, which increased by a combined $2.4 billion in Ontario and $1.7 billion in British Columbia over this period.
Conversely, the share of Indigenous GDI in Alberta fell from 21.4% in 2012 to 17.1% in 2022, while, in Saskatchewan, it declined from 9.5% to 7.7%.
A similar trend was observed in jobs held by Indigenous people, although the changes were less pronounced. Indigenous-held jobs accounted for a greater share of jobs in Ontario in 2022 (24.1%) compared with 2012 (22.6%). In British Columbia, the share increased slightly from 16.1% to 17.2% over this period. However, the gains in job share in these two provinces were more than offset by declines in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Characteristics of Indigenous paid worker jobs
In 2022, the number of paid worker jobs held by Indigenous people in Canada grew in every province and territory, rising by 37,000 year over year to nearly 827,000 jobs.
The distribution of these jobs across age groups has shifted over time. The share of jobs held by Indigenous people aged 15 to 24 years trended lower from 2012 to 2022 but trended higher for Indigenous people aged 45 years and older.
Several industries made significant contributions to this shift. The public administration sector led this shift, where the growth in jobs held by Indigenous people in the oldest age group (+34.0%) greatly outpaced that of jobs held by Indigenous people in the youngest age group (+3.4%).
Among others, the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector and the wholesale trade sector also contributed to the shift, with there being declines in jobs held by Indigenous people aged 15 to 24 years and increases for Indigenous people aged 45 years and older.
During the same period, more educated workers occupied progressively larger shares of jobs held by Indigenous people. Indigenous people with a trades certificate or less accounted for a smaller share of jobs in 2022 (62.0%) than in 2012 (65.7%). Conversely, the education groups of Indigenous people with a college diploma or above saw increasing shares, especially the university degree or higher cohort.
The share of total jobs among genders and between full- and part-time changed little over the decade studied. For example, the share of jobs held by women edged up from 49.8% in 2012 to 50.2% in 2022.
The share of Indigenous people working full-time paid worker jobs edged up from 77.7% in 2012 to 78.1% in 2022.
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Note to readers
The Indigenous Peoples Economic Account data for 2022 have been released along with updated data from 2012 to 2021. These updates reflect the incorporation of new benchmark values from the provincial and territorial supply and use tables for 2021, updated source data from the Canadian Macroeconomic Accounts, as well as updated tax data.
Indigenous people include persons who identify as First Nations (North American Indian), Métis and/or Inuk (Inuit) and/or those who report being Registered or Treaty Indians (that is, registered under the Indian Act of Canada), and/or those who report having membership in a First Nation or Indian band.
The Indigenous economy is defined as gross domestic income (GDI) earned by Indigenous workers and Indigenous-led businesses (where at least 50% of the owners identify as Indigenous). The main source for Indigenous workers is the Human Resource Module, which is linked to both the Census of Population and the System of National Accounts estimates of jobs and wages. The main source for Indigenous-led businesses is the Canadian Employer-Employee Dynamics Database, which has been linked to the Census of Population.
GDI is defined as the incomes generated by economic activity in the form of employee compensation and business incomes. It is often referred to as income-based gross domestic product; however, taxes less subsidies on products and imports are not included as part of Indigenous GDI. As such, all comparisons with the total economy are done at basic prices rather than market prices as presented in the Canadian Income and Expenditure Accounts.
Statistics Canada acknowledges that other approaches may result in different estimates. For example, when estimating the business income component of GDI, the current approach only considers businesses that are majority-owned (that is, 50% +1) by people identifying as Indigenous. Defining Indigenous-owned businesses differently, such as any businesses where at least one owner identified as Indigenous, would produce different results. However, given the current availability of data, this approach was considered the most appropriate. As new data become available, the choice of methodology may be altered, or the existing methodology could be refined.
Additional information on the methodologies used to construct the Economic Indicators and Human Resource Module estimates can be found in the article “Indigenous Peoples Economic Account: Methodology and Preliminary Results,” which is part of the publication Income and Expenditure Accounts Technical Series (13-604-M).
Products
The article, “Indigenous Peoples Economic Account: Methodology and Preliminary Results,” which is part of the Income and Expenditure Accounts Technical Series (13-604-M), is available.
The Economic accounts statistics portal, accessible from the Subjects module of the Statistics Canada website, features an up-to-date portrait of national and provincial economies and their structure.
The Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-X) is available.
The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-606-G) is available.
The Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-607-X) is available.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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