Red Deer’s unemployment rate was 6.5 in December, dropping less than half a per cent from November.
According to Statistics Canada, Red Deer’s labour force declined by about 1,300 in December, while employment decreased by 1,100. Part-time employment remained roughly the same, but full-time employment dropped about 800.
Red Deer’s unemployment rate in December 2020 was 9.5 per cent.
Provincially, Alberta’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was about 7.3 per cent, down 0.3 per cent from November and 3.8 per cent from December of 2020.
Alberta’s 7.3 per cent unemployment rate was the fifth highest in Canada in December 2021 after Newfoundland and Labrador’s 11.6 per cent, New Brunswick’s 7.9 per cent, Nova Scotia’s 7.9 per cent , and Prince Edward Island’s 7.8 per cent. The national rate was 5.9, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month.
“Today’s job numbers continue to tell the story that Alberta is coming back and our economic recovery is reaching the kitchen tables of Albertans. Our nation-leading employment rate has increased to 64.2 per cent while unemployment has dropped to its lowest rate since before the pandemic,” said Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation Doug Schweitzer.
“Our work to diversify our economy and ensure Alberta is the best place in the country to do business has resulted in huge investments in tech, film and television, petrochemicals and agriculture.
”We continue to see those investments turn into Alberta jobs, with more than 16,000 full-time jobs added in December and nearly 130,000 new jobs since one year ago.”
According to the Alberta Labour Force December highlights, Alberta’s unemployment rate declined because the labour force increased by 6,300 and employment increased by 11,100 from the previous month.
Also, full-time employment increased by 16,100 while part-time employment decreased by 5,100 over the same period. Between December 2020 and December 2021, employment increased by 129,800 in the province, while the number of unemployed Albertans decreased by 88,100 over the same period.