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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Those celebrating lower unemployment rates in the NWT may have to put the cork back in their champagne bottles.

"Our unemployment rate looks really low and it doesn't make any sense," said Kate Odziemkowska, labour market statistician for the NWT Bureau of Statistics.

Kate Odziemkowska: NWT Bureau of Statistics labour market statistician.

Recent statistics showing a significantly lower unemployment rate for the NWT compared to the rest of Canada - 4.4 per cent versus 7.8 per cent - can be misleading, she explained. There are a number of reasons why the rate looks so low on the surface.

Over the past months, people have been exiting the labour force and stopped looking for work, causing the labour force itself to shrivel.

"Basically that number is shrinking (and) that's making the unemployment rate look artificially low," said Odziemkowska. "It's possible people might maybe be losing their jobs and saying, 'I'm not going to look for work' - for whatever reason."

The way data are compiled for the North also contributes to the skew. Here, data are based over a three-month average, compared to Canada and other jurisdictions which compile data on a month-to-month basis. Because of that, any labour impacts happening because of the economic slowdown will appear less pronounced here, Odziemkowska said.

She added the bureau prefers to look at employment rates when comparing the territory to the rest of Canada.

In the NWT, the employment rate has fallen slightly to 68.3 per cent from 68.9 per cent, with the largest decreases in Yellowknife.

On the flipside, there was a slight increase in employment for those living outside of Yellowknife.

"There was a decrease in private employment and also full-time employment," said Odziemkowska.

"I can tell you (the decrease) is in the good-producing sector, which includes things like construction, utilities, mining, oil and gas.

"So already there's a potential we might be seeing that decrease in employment due to what we would expect to happen during a recession here."

Still, there is some cause for celebration. The territory typically ranks very high among other jurisdictions when it comes to employment rates.

"We are special. We should keep in mind that the NWT is different than other jurisdictions. The public service dominates us a lot," said Odziemkowska.

"People in the NWT tend to participate in the labour force a lot and like to have jobs" she added.

And the territorial government's education, culture and employment department plans to keep it that way.

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) has many programs in place to keep the employment rate high and people in the workforce, said Gloria Iatridis, assistant deputy minister for advanced education and careers at the department.

"Our vision is Northern people leading fulfilled lives and contributing to a strong and prosperous society," said Iatridis.

The government has ECE service centres dotted around the territory and offices and the community level to help fulfil the vision. The department also has several key partners, such as Aurora College, to help provide much-needed skilled trades training.

"We've been working with the federal government to look at enhancing ... programs to make them more flexible, especially during the economic downtown," said Iatridis.

One idea is to allow clients more weeks on employment insurance while they're participating in training opportunities, she added.

Iatridis agreed the good employment rate in the territory was due in part to active programming by the department, but said it's also because there is just so much going on in the territory.