The number of jobs in Alberta made up some of the ground lost in January, but employment remains basically where it was a year ago, according to Statistics Canada’s latest Labour Force Survey.
After falling three months in a row, the Alberta economy added 11,400 jobs in February for a net gain of 0.5 per cent, ATB Financial’s Economics and Research team reports. The year-over-year results are less encouraging. The employment level in the province is down by 0.1 per cent compared to February 2019.
Most of the job gains were in part-time employment with full-time positions contracting by 0.5 per cent compared to a year ago.
The unemployment rate ticked down slightly, going from 7.3 per cent in January to 7.2 per cent in February. The year-over-year rate stayed the same. The unemployment rate among men rose from 7.2 to 7.5 per cent, but dropped from 7.3 to 6.8 per cent among women.
Alberta’s unemployment rate is the fourth highest among the provinces after Newfoundland and Labrador (12.0 per cent), Prince Edward Island (8.0 per cent) and Nova Scotia (7.8 per cent).
Nationally, the unemployment rate ticked up slightly from 5.5 per cent in January to 5.6 per cent in February. Just over 30,000 jobs were added to the national economy in February (0.2 per cent) with year-over-year growth coming in at 245,000 positions (1.3 per cent).
mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
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