Job prospects Carpenter in Northwest Territories

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "carpenter" in Northwest Territories or across Canada.

Job opportunities in Northwest Territories

The recent trends from the past 3 years were updated on July 25, 2025. The job outlooks over the next 3 years were updated on December 10, 2025.

Prospects over the next 3 years

The employment outlook will be Good for carpenters (NOC 72310) in Northwest Territories for the 2025-2027 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

• Employment growth will lead to several new positions.
• A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements.
• There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

• This occupation will benefit from major public and private construction projects scheduled in Northwest Territories over the forecast period.
• For example, the planned construction of the $1.65 billion Mackenzie Valley Highway, connecting Wrigley to Norman Wells, is expected to generate employment in this occupation when construction begins in 2027 or 2028. Ongoing work at the $4 billion Giant Mine remediation site may also lead to construction employment.
• Training for this occupation is available locally at Aurora College.
• Designated carpenters in the Northwest Territories require apprenticeship training. This training requires eight weeks of learning per level at each of the four levels. Apprentices must score at least 70% on the Trades Entrance Exam or have certain grades in high school English or Literacy, Math, and Science or equivalents (Government of Northwest Territories, 2025).

Here are some key facts about carpenters in Northwest Territories:

• Approximately 200 people worked in this occupation in May 2021.
• Carpenters mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Construction (NAICS 23): 73%
  • Public Administration and Defence (NAICS 91): 8%
  • Finance, insurance and Real estate and rental and leasing (NAICS 52-53): 7%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 93% compared to 88% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 7% compared to 12% for all occupations
• 56% of carpenters work all year, while 44% work only part of the year, compared to 71% and 28% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 41 weeks compared to 44 weeks for all occupations.
• 12% of carpenters are self-employed compared to an average of 7% for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: more than 95% compared to 52% for all occupations
  • Women: less than 5% compared to 48% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: 32% compared to 17% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: 21% compared to 26% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: 36% compared to 12% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 7% compared to 18% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: less than 5% compared to 17% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: less than 5% compared to 9% for all occupations

Labour market conditions over the next 10 years

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