Employment + Labour Data

March 2020

PetroLMI gathers labour force data from Statistics Canada to compile the industry specific details outlined below. The labour force for Canada’s oil and gas industry refers to those 15 years of age and over who were employed or unemployed, and available to the labour market, specifically within the following industry sub-sectors: exploration and production (including oil sands), oil and gas services and pipeline transmission.

Highlights March 2020

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Region Unemployment
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All data and figures were sourced from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey (LFS). Included are labour force, employment and unemployment within the following sub-sectors: exploration and production including oil sands, oil and gas services and pipeline transmission. Since the LFS is a sample survey, all estimates are subject to both sampling and non-sampling errors. As such, data availability and accuracy can be challenging for data subsets (e.g., by sub-sector and by province). Numbers are rounded to the nearest 100.
For an overview of the labour force survey and definitions please visit: Statistics Canada’s monthly Labour Force Survey

National Highlights

In March 2020, Canada’s oil and gas industry employed approximately 177,300 workers – reflecting a 0.4% increase (or 700) from February 2020. The services sub-sector decreased by 3% (or –2,300). The exploration and production and pipelines sub-sectors increased by 3% (or 2,400) and 5% (or 600) respectively. 

Compared to March 2019, oil and gas employment is down 10% (or –20,200). Over the same period, the oil and gas labour force decreased by 10% (or –20,000). From March 2019, employment in the services, pipelines and exploration and production sub-sectors decreased by 6% (or –4,900), 19% (or –3,100) and 12% (or –11,400) respectively. 

Of the 177,300 workers employed in the oil and gas industry, 171,100 were employed full time and 6,400 were part time. Most workers were employees (164,600) and 12,600 were self-employed. The oil and gas services sub-sector had the most self-employed workers, with 10,900.  

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