Employment  in 2005 totalled 214,100, essentially unchanged from 2004. About 52 per cent of employment last year was accounted for by males and about 48 per cent by females.

Labour markets endured a difficult period in the 1990s brought on by problems in the fishery, a global recession and government restraint at all levels. The hardest hit areas during this period were the rural regions.

Employment growth resumed in 1997 due to economic expansion and diversification and since then employment in the province has expanded by 14.2 per cent. While employment levels in some rural regions have not returned to previous highs, the greater St. John’s area has set an employment record. In 2005, employment in the St. John’s area comprised 42% of total provincial employment. 

The unemployment rate has decreased by 3.9 percentage points since 1996, to average 15.2% in 2005 – the lowest level since 1981.