Jobs
Red Deer leads province
Unemployment in the Red Deer region edged up to 5.5 per cent last month.
That is half a per cent higher than November, but a significant improvement over the eight per cent recorded in December 2016.
Red Deer region’s unemployment rate is the lowest among Alberta’s seven regions and well below the province’s 6.9 per cent. A year ago, unemployment sat at 8.5 per cent in Alberta.
Across all industries, 55,000 more Albertans were pulling a paycheque last month compared with a year ago. The work force last December included 2.32 million workers compared with 2.27 in December 2016.
Canada-wide, Alberta’s unemployment rate was the highest outside the Maritime provinces. B.C. was the lowest at 4.9 per cent followed by Quebec (4.9), Ontario (5.5), Manitoba (5.7), Saskatchewan (6.4), Alberta (6.9), New Brunswick (7.8), Nova Scotia (8.0), Prince Edward Island (9.8), and Newfoundland (14.7).
Canada’s unemployment rate was 5.7 per cent, up slightly from the 5.9 per cent recorded in November 2017, but down from 6.9 per cent in December 2016.
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