The unemployment rate in the Red Deer region dropped slightly last month, according to figures compiled by Statistics Canada.
The local jobless rate for September was calculated at 5.2 per cent, down 0.2 percentage points from August and 0.4 percentage points lower than it was in September 2010.
Elsewhere in the province, last month’s unemployment rate ranged from a low of 2.8 per cent in the Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House region to 6.1 per cent in Calgary. Camrose-Drumheller was also at 5.2 per cent, while Lethbridge-Medicine Hat and Edmonton came in at 5.8 per cent each, and Athabasca-Grande Prairie and Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake both registered 5.9 per cent rates.
The provincial average was 5.4 per cent, down from the August figure of 5.6 per cent.
Alberta Employment and Immigration said in a release that Alberta’s unemployment rate was the second lowest in Canada, trailing only Saskatchewan’s 4.6 per cent.
The national average was 7.1 per cent, down 0.2 percentage points from August.
Alberta’s total labour force increased by 3,500 in September, while employment increased
by 8,600. The latter figure resulted from a 21,400 increase in full-time employment and a 12,800 decrease in part-time employment.
Compared to last year at this time, employment in Alberta has increased by 97,700, or 4.8 per cent, all full-time positions.