Photo: Red Castle · CC BY-SA 4.0Lamèque has a larger share of its working-age people in jobs than 89% of Canadian towns
The census counted 745 people working in Lamèque and 420 residents commuting to a fixed workplace. Half the households in Lamèque had more than $61,900 in 2020, before tax, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at $85,900. Unemployment in Lamèque stood at 14% on census day 2021, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
Lamèque at work: what stands out
More people in work than most towns
84% of people aged 15 to 64 had a job at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; counting everyone 15 and over, retirees included, it was 53%. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
The Labour Force Survey had the area at 9.6% in October 2026; on census day in 2021 the town’s own rate was 14%, where the middle of Canadian towns had 9.9%. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The middle of Canadian towns is $85,900, and the median household here had $61,900 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
A local job centre
745 people work in Lamèque and 420 residents commute to a fixed workplace; the middle of Canadian towns has 0.8 jobs per working resident. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 17.2 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 1.8% take an hour or more. The trip to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
The Jobs & income grade for Lamèque: A−
Better than 77% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
Its strongest measure is the share of 15-to-64s in work; its weakest, household income.
Graded against Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more; less unemployment and a shorter commute count in its favour.
How the grade works
Census 2021 measures, weighed equally against every Canadian town and neighbourhood of 2,500 people or more: the share of residents aged 15 to 64 in work, median household income (2020), the unemployment rate and the average commute. Each becomes a percentile; their average sets the letter.
In Lamèque, 84% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
All 8 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Gloucester census division have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 53% were working. By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 48% of the wider area’s adults in work. 62% of residents aged 15 and over were in the labour force, in work or seeking it. Pandemic rules were in force on census day, 11 May 2021; the Labour Force Survey shows how jobs have moved since.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: people in work of any age over residents aged 15 to 64, and the census unemployment rate (15 and over); the 25-to-54 rate is Statistics Canada’s own (98-10-0485). The Labour Force Survey and business counts are context, not grade inputs.
How Lamèque’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 85% of Canadian towns.
Set beside New Brunswick’s towns, where the median is $73,200, Lamèque sits 15% below. Of the 8 other places of 2,500 or more in the Gloucester census division, 4 have a higher median. CERB and the other emergency payments of 2020 are counted in these incomes, which lifted the lower ones that year.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Workers pour into Lamèque: 68% more on a working day
Each resident commuting out of Lamèque is matched by about 2 coming in. The job is inside the municipality for 37% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
A shorter commute than the middle of Canadian towns: 17.2 minutes from Lamèque
Trips under 15 minutes: 58%, more than the 44% in the middle of New Brunswick’s towns. An hour or more: 1.8% of commuters, close to the middle of New Brunswick’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 14.1 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of New Brunswick’s towns averages 20.8 minutes.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: commuting duration in five bands; our average uses each band’s middle (75 minutes for an hour or more), so it runs about two minutes above Statistics Canada’s own.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
589 people come into Lamèque to work, most from Shippagan and Shippagan
Of everyone working in Lamèque, 79% come in from elsewhere; 345 make the 3 km trip from Shippagan. The main destination the other way is Shippagan, with 95.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
2021 Census, people with a usual place of work: where residents of Lamèque work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Without a car, 6.4% of Lamèque’s commuters get to work
The car takes 90% of commuters here, under the 95% in the middle of New Brunswick’s towns. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 9.2% against 21%. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
In the Gloucester census division, 8% fewer people receive EI than in 2019
That works out to around 16.1 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. Over the year to August 2026, the count fell by 7%. The count topped out in February 2021 at 15,370 people, 1.6 times the 2019 average.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100). For EI beneficiaries, the only official count covers all of the Gloucester census division, Lamèque included.
Getting around Lamèque on foot earns B
Better than 58% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Work in the places around Lamèque
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamèque | 84% | 14% | $62K | 17.2 min | A− | B |
| Shippagan 2.5 km | 69% | 11% | $61K | 16.5 min | C | D− |
| Shippagan 10.4 km | 73% | 11% | $60K | 16.8 min | C+ | A− |
| Bas-Caraquet 15.2 km | 61% | 15% | $60K | 17.7 min | C− | C− |
| Caraquet 17.2 km | 71% | 19% | $64K | 23.2 min | C− | D− |
The people of each place: the share in work, unemployment, household income and the average commute, with both grades once they come.
What this data can and can’t tell you
What each figure measures for Lamèque, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Unemployment. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- Household income. What the median household took in during 2020 before tax, as the census recorded it; an estimate built from income groups when the place is a neighbourhood.
- Trip times. One way, on a usual day, from the census’s travel-time bands. Band midpoints overstate it a little next to the figure Statistics Canada times.
- Where people commute. Jobs count everyone whose usual workplace lies in the municipality, residents or commuters from elsewhere, from Statistics Canada’s home-by-workplace table.
- Employment Insurance. Monthly EI recipients across the census division: a pulse of the local job market rather than a measure of who is out of work.
- The Labour Force Survey. Monthly, and only for metro areas and economic regions. It is the up-to-date rate we set beside the census’s 2021 snapshot.
- In work. How many residents held a job in May 2021, set against how many were 15 to 64. It reads a little high where many people work past 65, since below the municipality the census gives no breakdown of workers by age.
- Which towns we compare. Towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 people or more, never a whole city and never a First Nations reserve. Middles are medians.
Questions about work in Lamèque
How many jobs are there in Lamèque?
About 745 people had their usual place of work in Lamèque at the 2021 census, 1.8 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 86 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Lamèque?
Two figures answer it: 14% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 9.6% for the Campbellton-Miramichi economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Lamèque?
The census puts Lamèque at $61,900 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Lamèque get to work?
90% of commuters go by car, 6.4% walk. On census day 9.2% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Lamèque?
On average 17.2 minutes; 58% take under 15 minutes and 1.8% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Lamèque work?
Only 37% work in Lamèque itself; the rest go first to Shippagan (95) and Shippagan (70).
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population (Census Profile) · Statistics Canada, tables 98-10-0458 and 98-10-0459 (commuting) · Statistics Canada, table 14-10-0323 (EI beneficiaries) · Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey (14-10-0459, 14-10-0462) · Statistics Canada, Canadian Business Counts (33-10-1176) · grades: TownRatings. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).