Dawson City's economy is strongly linked to tourism, which has weathered several poor years, due to various Canadian and international factors. The Yukon's tourism industry has in fact fared better than Canada and most jurisdictions. Placer mining is also an important element in the area's economy. Dawson also has a vibrant arts community, which aids tourism and supports residents through the year.
With tourism being the major source of economic growth, most employment is linked to providing services for tourists. The accommodation and food services sector employs about 17 percent of the workforce in Dawson City, compared to 9 percent on average in the Yukon. A further 11 percent of the workforce is employed in "other services", which includes recreation and arts, the fastest-growing component of the local economy. Other links to tourism activity appear in the 6 percent employed in transportation and utilities and the 9 percent employed in trade.
Since Dawson City is one of the Yukon's larger communities, government services (17 percent), educational services (4 percent), and health services (6 percent) are also significant employers. These proportions are a little lower than the employment shares for these industry sectors in the Yukon as a whole.
Mining employed about 8 percent of the Dawson City workforce in the 2001 Census, considerably higher than the 2-percent share reported across the Yukon that year. Some people work in other sectors for most of the year and in gold placer mining during the summer. The Dawson area is famous for its placer gold. Calculating accurate placer gold production is notoriously difficult, since the system of reporting is haphazard and some of the gold leaks into the cash economy. Although placer gold production hit a 23-year low in 2002, with only 53,078 fine ounces recorded, an increase in the world gold price has alleviated this drop somewhat. Preliminary indications in 2004 are that higher gold prices are leading to increased placer mining operations.
Other primary industries, which include agriculture, fishing, trapping and forestry, provide a small share of employment (1 percent), just slightly below the overall Yukon pattern. As with mining, the number of people involved in trapping varies from year to year. Some trap part-time to augment income from other sources.
Construction activity is also variable, but provided almost 10 percent of employment in 2001. Some people find employment in communications, various business services or finance and real estate. Manufacturing is too small a part of the Dawson City economy to be measured by Statistics Canada.
Chief Isaac Incorporated is the development company of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in. Chief Isaac Inc. has established local businesses to employ First Nations people. The company has operations in property management and rentals, janitorial and security services, petroleum distribution and general freight. Traditional activities are also an important part of the economy and lifestyle of First Nations people in the Dawson City area. A significant number of people hunt and fish to supply some of their families' food needs.
