The percentage of self-employed Canadians is the lowest it’s been in almost 35 years, while public sector employment is at its highest percentage in nearly 30—and neither trend bodes well for the economy.
Just 2.6 million Canadians identified as self-employed in October, according to Statistics Canada. This is an 11 percent drop from the peak level of around 2.92 million in September 2019. Self-employed workers’ current share of 13.6 percent of total employment (19.16 million) has not been this low since July 1987.
