Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Fewer of Pessamit’s 15-to-64s are in work than in 98% of Canadian towns
Census day 2021 found 14% of Pessamit’s labour force without a job, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. For 7.5% of commuters in Pessamit, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 16.4 minutes. The median household in Pessamit had $62,900 before tax in 2020, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at $85,900.
Pessamit at work: what stands out
Fewer people in work than most towns
With 47% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, it has 41% of all adults employed. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
Census day in 2021 put 14% out of work (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and the area’s monthly survey gave 4.3% in June 2026. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Half the households here had more than $62,900 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 16.4 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 7.5% 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.
On jobs and income, Pessamit grades C−
Better than 23% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, the share of 15-to-64s in work.
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 Pessamit, 47% of the working-age population has a job
By June 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 63% of the wider area’s adults in work. The census caught the labour market on 11 May 2021, deep in the pandemic, so unemployment and working from home both ran above normal.
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.
Household income in Pessamit
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 82% of Canadian towns.
Against the middle of Quebec’s towns ($74,100), Pessamit’s median is 15% below. 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).
How long the commute from Pessamit takes
In the middle of Quebec’s towns, the average commute is 26.5 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 77% of commuters, against 31% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 15.3 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.
As many come into Pessamit to work as leave
600 residents of Pessamit had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 600 people had theirs in Pessamit, wherever they lived.
88% of residents who commute work inside the municipality, against 70% in the middle of Canadian towns.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
71 people come into Pessamit to work, most from Baie-Comeau and Matimekosh
- Baie-Comeau30
- Matimekosh10
Of everyone working in Pessamit, 12% come in from elsewhere; 30 make the 44 km trip from Baie-Comeau. Going the other way, Québec is the biggest single destination (10).
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 Pessamit work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Walking, cycling or transit: 12% of Pessamit’s commuters
On foot: 9.6% of commuters, well above the 4.2% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. The car takes 85% of commuters here, under the 90% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Home was the workplace for 2%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 1.4% of commuters, 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.
EI claims in the Manicouagan census division are back near their 2019 level
In January 2021 it reached 2,230, the most in the series and 2.6 times the 2019 average. Roughly 3.8 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 5%.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Area behind the EI beneficiaries figures: the Manicouagan census division. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
On getting around on foot, Pessamit grades A−
Better than 76% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Jobs near Pessamit: the places around it
Pessamit has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 21–27 km out.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pessamit | 47% | 14% | $63K | 16.4 min | C− | A− |
| Ragueneau 21.5 km | 63% | 10% | $65K | 24 min | D | C |
| Pointe-aux-Outardes 27.2 km | 72% | 7.6% | $87K | 25.2 min | B− | C− |
| Chute-aux-Outardes 27.4 km | 73% | 4.6% | $60K | 20.8 min | C | C+ |
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 Pessamit, 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. Before-tax total income of the middle household for 2020, from the census. Neighbourhood medians are worked out from bracket counts, since Statistics Canada publishes none of their own.
- Trip times. Commuters picked a band for their usual trip (under 15 minutes, 15 to 29, and so on). We place each person at the middle of their band, which lands a little above Statistics Canada’s own timed average.
- Where people commute. Only people with a usual place of work are in it: those who work from home or have no fixed site are not. Home and work are both counted by municipality.
- Employment Insurance. How many people in the census division drew Employment Insurance each month; it moves with layoffs and hiring, yet people who don’t qualify are absent from it.
- The Labour Force Survey. Sampled each month and released for regions rather than towns, so its rate describes the area around the town.
- In work. Why 15 to 64? Otherwise retirees would pull the rate down in older towns. The census can’t say how old a neighbourhood’s workers are, so the count of people in work takes every 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.
- A First Nations reserve. Pessamit’s figures are its own, though Statistics Canada rounds or suppresses some for small communities. A reserve has no overall grade and sits in no ranked list.
Questions about work in Pessamit
What is the unemployment rate in Pessamit?
On census day in May 2021, unemployment stood at 14% of the labour force (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). For a recent figure, the Labour Force Survey put the Côte-Nord and Nord-du-Québec economic region at 4.3% in June 2026.
What is the average household income in Pessamit?
Pessamit’s middle household had $62,900 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Pessamit get to work?
By car: 85% of commuters, 1.4% take public transit, 9.6% walk and 1.4% cycle; on census day 2% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Pessamit?
16.4 minutes is the average trip, with 77% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 7.5% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Pessamit work?
Most stay: 88% work in Pessamit. The rest go first to Québec (10) and Saint-David-de-Falardeau (10).
How many jobs are there in Pessamit?
The 2021 census counted about 600 people working in Pessamit: 1 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 14 businesses with employees in June 2026.
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).