Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment in Canada

Canada: Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment was 19,350 Persons in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)
19,350 Persons
Change on year
up 2.1%
World rank
9th
of 33 countries
All-time high
19,350 Persons
in 2024
All-time low
4,133 Persons
in 1955
Years of data
70
1955–2024

Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment in Canada, 1955–2024

5.0k10.0k15.0k20.0k195519892024

Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Persons.

Analysis

In 2024, number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment in Canada stood at 19,350 Persons. That is the highest value across all 70 years on record.

Compared with earlier readings it is up 2.1% on the previous year and up 19.3% over ten years.

Over the whole period, number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment in Canada peaked at 19,350 Persons in 2024 and was at its lowest, 4,133 Persons, in 1955.

That places Canada 9th out of 33 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 70 years of available data.

Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment in Canada, year by year

Annual values for Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment in Canada, 1955 to 2024.
Year Persons Change
1955 4,133 Persons
1956 4,389 Persons +6.2%
1957 4,539 Persons +3.4%
1958 4,560 Persons +0.5%
1959 4,735 Persons +3.8%
1960 4,844 Persons +2.3%
1961 4,911 Persons +1.4%
1962 5,090 Persons +3.6%
1963 5,241 Persons +3.0%
1964 5,467 Persons +4.3%
1965 5,760 Persons +5.4%
1966 6,097 Persons +5.9%
1967 6,305 Persons +3.4%
1968 6,490 Persons +2.9%
1969 6,721 Persons +3.6%
1970 6,839 Persons +1.8%
1971 7,029 Persons +2.8%
1972 7,310 Persons +4.0%
1973 7,757 Persons +6.1%
1974 8,105 Persons +4.5%
1975 8,272 Persons +2.1%
1976 8,810 Persons +6.5%
1977 8,977 Persons +1.9%
1978 9,242 Persons +2.9%
1979 9,652 Persons +4.4%
1980 9,980 Persons +3.4%
1981 10,283 Persons +3.0%
1982 9,890 Persons -3.8%
1983 9,927 Persons +0.4%
1984 10,171 Persons +2.5%
1985 10,388 Persons +2.1%
1986 10,811 Persons +4.1%
1987 11,153 Persons +3.2%
1988 11,504 Persons +3.1%
1989 11,776 Persons +2.4%
1990 11,847 Persons +0.6%
1991 11,595 Persons -2.1%
1992 11,441 Persons -1.3%
1993 11,429 Persons -0.1%
1994 11,656 Persons +2.0%
1995 11,889 Persons +2.0%
1996 11,930 Persons +0.3%
1997 12,146 Persons +1.8%
1998 12,395 Persons +2.0%
1999 12,774 Persons +3.1%
2000 13,194 Persons +3.3%
2001 13,455 Persons +2.0%
2002 13,791 Persons +2.5%
2003 14,122 Persons +2.4%
2004 14,406 Persons +2.0%
2005 14,602 Persons +1.4%
2006 14,899 Persons +2.0%
2007 15,211 Persons +2.1%
2008 15,447 Persons +1.6%
2009 15,167 Persons -1.8%
2010 15,418 Persons +1.7%
2011 15,670 Persons +1.6%
2012 15,884 Persons +1.4%
2013 16,125 Persons +1.5%
2014 16,224 Persons +0.6%
2015 16,356 Persons +0.8%
2016 16,475 Persons +0.7%
2017 16,870 Persons +2.4%
2018 17,194 Persons +1.9%
2019 17,550 Persons +2.1%
2020 16,547 Persons -5.7%
2021 17,518 Persons +5.9%
2022 18,321 Persons +4.6%
2023 18,958 Persons +3.5%
2024 19,350 Persons +2.1%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1950s 4,471 Persons 4,133 Persons 4,735 Persons 5
1960s 5,693 Persons 4,844 Persons 6,721 Persons 10
1970s 8,199 Persons 6,839 Persons 9,652 Persons 10
1980s 10,588 Persons 9,890 Persons 11,776 Persons 10
1990s 11,910 Persons 11,429 Persons 12,774 Persons 10
2000s 14,429 Persons 13,194 Persons 15,447 Persons 10
2010s 16,377 Persons 15,418 Persons 17,550 Persons 10
2020s 18,139 Persons 16,547 Persons 19,350 Persons 5

Countries ranked near Canada

  1. 6 Germany 38,822 Persons compare
  2. 6 Latvia 755.08 Persons compare
  3. 7 Estonia 615.5 Persons compare
  4. 7 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 29,586 Persons compare
  5. 8 France 25,340 Persons compare
  6. 10 Spain 18,933 Persons compare
  7. 11 Italy 18,928 Persons compare
  8. 12 Australia 13,389 Persons compare

See the full ranking of 43 places →

More work & labour data for Canada

All data for Canada →

Frequently asked questions

What is number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment in Canada?
Number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment in Canada was 19,350 Persons in 2024, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
What is the highest number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment recorded in Canada?
The highest recorded value was 19,350 Persons in 2024.
What is the lowest number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment recorded in Canada?
The lowest recorded value was 4,133 Persons in 1955.
How does Canada rank for number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment?
Canada ranks 9th out of 33 countries with data for 2024.
Is number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment rising or falling in Canada?
Over the last ten years it is up 19.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Canada data come from?
The figures come from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as part of Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

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Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment in Canada. Statizoid, drawing on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 02 September 2026, from https://labour.statizoid.com/stat/number-of-employees-by-activities-isic-rev-4-employment/canada/

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About this data

Indicator
Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment
Unit
Persons
Source
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Licence
OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required)
Coverage
43 places, 2,002 data points, 1955–2025
Last refreshed

The dataflow "Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4)" is a subset of the “Employment by activites and status (ALFS)” dataset which presents annual labour force statistics for OECD member countries, Brazil and 4 geographical areas (Major Seven, Euro zone, European Union and OECD-Total). This dataflow shows the number of employees broken down by economic activities (ISIC Rev. 4). Economic activities are defined according to the Major divisions of the International standard International Classification (ISIC) Rev. 4 with the exception of the United-States wich compiled since 2003, employment data by sector following the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS); NAICS sector are then proxied to ISIC Rev. 4 and are therefore not strictly comparable with other countries’ data. The professional status is defined in the International Classification by status in Employment (ICSE-1993). Data are presented in thousands of persons, or as indices with base year 2015=100. Annual data in this dataset are typically calculated as averages of infra-annual estimates. This can lead to differences with annual data published by National Statistics Institutes. Historical data of employment statistics defined according to ISIC Rev. 2 are also available from 1970 to 2014 Historical data of employment statistics defined according to ISIC Rev. 3 are available from 1983 to 2023. Data for Canada are currently only available in ISIC Rev. 3