The employment rate—also called the employment-to-population ratio—is the percentage of working-age people who have jobs. For example, in 2001, there were 24.6 million Canadians of working age (aged 15 years and up). Of those, 15.1 million were employed full-time or part-time. The employment rate was therefore 61.2%.

The employment rate denominator is the source population, not the labour force. The source population includes all working-age people not in the military or institutions, but the labour force includes only those persons who either have a job or are looking for one. In 2001, the latter number was 16 million people. (See Labour force.) While the source population grows fairly steadily from one year to the next, the labour force tends to fluctuate as persons become encouraged or discouraged by prevailing economic conditions.