Employment Share by Occupation
The proportion of adults in the Teslin population is somewhat smaller than the adult share of the larger Yukon population. This is an indication that many adults move away from Teslin to look for work. About 70 percent of community residents aged 15 years and up are involved in the labour market, less than the 81-percent involvement across the Yukon. Unemployment is higher in Teslin than the average for the Yukon. This is especially the case for workers who are 25 years of age or older. The 2001 Census reported that for this age group, 22 percent of people in the workforce were unemployed, more than twice the unemployment rate reported for the whole Territory. A third of adult men (25 years of age or older) in the Teslin labour force were unemployed.
On average during 2003, 44 people claimed employment insurance in Teslin. The number of people claiming employment insurance has varied between 30 and 49 over the period from 1991 to the early 2000s. The relatively high number of employment insurance claimants in Teslin is a further indication that much of the available work lasts only part of the year.
The 2001 Census showed that Teslin's young people (aged 15 to 24) are quite involved in the labour market. About 70 percent of Teslin youth said they were in the formal labour market, compared to 68 percent Yukon-wide. There is no official measure of unemployment from the Census for this group, but job possibilities for young workers are limited in Teslin.
Although the Census did not provide any measure of full-time, full year work for Teslin, other information indicates that much of the work available in the community, apart from government employment, is seasonal.
Information on self-employment, drawn from the Census, shows a relatively low rate of 7 percent. The Yukon-wide rate is 13 percent.
Earnings information was not available from the 2001 Census.
The main fields of work in Teslin's formal labour market are sales and service occupations linked to tourism. These include food and accommodation service jobs as well as such occupations as outfitters and guides.
Employment in the First Nation government means that there are workers employed in administration fields. The overall management, business and administration fields provide a smaller share of employment than they do on average across the Yukon, however. Other occupations represented in Teslin include teachers, nurses, social workers, and community workers in government, education, social services, and health occupation fields. In 2001, other workers in Teslin were employed in trades and transportation occupations, which includes such fields as auto repair, maintenance, and construction.
