The Communist Party of Canada says the unemployment rate on First Nations reserves in Saskatchewan and Manitoba is about 70 per cent.
The party also says the exclusion of labour force data on reserves is part of a strategy by the Harper government to hide the true joblessness rate and drive wages down.
With unemployment on reserves taken into account, the CPC says the true unemployment rate in Saskatchewan is closer to 7.6 per cent and in Manitoba 8.3 per cent.
The Communist Party uses a combination of the number of people of working age living on reserves multiplied by the average labour force participation rate to arrive at its data.
The CPC says the exclusion of on-reserve people from the Labour Force Survey is an official reinforcement of the racist view that Aboriginal people do not value work or contribute to the economy.