Author of the article: Dylan Short
Publishing date: Sep 10, 2021
Alberta's unemployment rate dropped 0.6 per cent from July, down to 7.9 per cent.
PHOTO BY OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
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Alberta gained nearly 20,000 jobs in August, building on growth seen throughout the summer months.
Statistics Canada numbers released Friday shows employment in the province rose by 19,500 jobs compared to July when accounting for seasonal adjustments, resulting in a 0.9 per cent growth rate. The majority of new jobs came in the form of full-time work with 16,300 jobs. Part-time work rose by 3,100 new positions.
Alberta’s unemployment rate dropped 0.6 percentage points from July, down to 7.9 per cent. The number of people who are unemployed but actively looking for work dropped to 193,400 from 208,400 last month.
The latest unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in Alberta in the past 18 months, dropping by 4.3 points from August 2020.
Alberta Jobs, Economy and Innovation Minister Doug Schweitzer said in a statement that the numbers build off of encouraging growth seen in July, stating Alberta’s recovery plan out of the COVID-19 pandemic is diversifying the economy.
“With new investments in tech, film, energy, agriculture and more, Alberta’s Recovery Plan is creating jobs and diversifying the economy while building for the future,” said Schweitzer. “August’s job numbers confirm projections that Alberta will lead Canada in economic growth this year and next.”
Statistics Canada’s Labour Force survey shows Alberta’s numbers were similar to the national rate as the country’s overall unemployment rate dropped by 0.4 points to 7.1 per cent. There were 90,200 new jobs created in Canada between July and August, including 68,500 full-time positions.
The national unemployment is the lowest it has been since February 2020. Employment in August rose among young Canadians as well as Indigenous people and recent immigrants. The accommodation and food services industries continued to see growth nationwide.
University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe said job growth was to be expected this month as public health measures continued to remain loose in Alberta. He said that a single month’s numbers are subject to a large margin of error but the fact that there have been multiple months of growth is a positive sign.
“I try not to get surprised by individual things in a single report and instead look to trends,” said Tombe. “The broad trend here is clear that we have seen steadily improving labour market conditions over the past few months, getting close to pre-COVID levels for a lot of things like the unemployment rate, or even the under-utilization rate.”
Tombe said there continues to be room for growth in industries that were hard hit by the pandemic, which could lead to further positive job numbers in the coming months.
However, Tombe cautioned that the fourth wave of COVID-19 could create some hardships in the market and that making progress on the provincial vaccination campaign would help with curbing that threat.
“Making progress on that front is central for continuing economic recovery that we’ve been seeing over the summer months.”
Rob Roach, deputy chief economist for ATB Financial, said that while there has been positive growth, the province has still not fully returned to pre-pandemic levels.
He said many Albertans will see the latest numbers and not agree that is what they are seeing on the ground as they look for employment.
“We still have a very strong underlying economy, but it will be slow (to return to pre-pandemic numbers). It’s not going to happen overnight and that’s been proven really,” said Roach. “It has taken a long time and it’s still gonna take a while before we really see, you know, that growth over and above just catching up.”
For municipal regions, Statistics Canada uses a three-month rolling average of unemployment rates that are not adjusted for seasonal averages. Calgary’s rolling average increased in August to 10.1 per cent unemployment, up from 9.6 in July. That number is the highest of any municipal region included in the survey outside of southern Ontario. St. Catharines-Niagara and Windsor have the highest unemployment rates in the country.
Alberta gained nearly 20,000 jobs in August, building on growth seen throughout the summer months.
Statistics Canada numbers released Friday shows employment in the province rose by 19,500 jobs compared to July when accounting for seasonal adjustments, resulting in a 0.9 per cent growth rate. The majority of new jobs came in the form of full-time work with 16,300 jobs. Part-time work rose by 3,100 new positions.
Alberta’s unemployment rate dropped 0.6 percentage points from July, down to 7.9 per cent. The number of people who are unemployed but actively looking for work dropped to 193,400 from 208,400 last month.
The latest unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in Alberta in the past 18 months, dropping by 4.3 points from August 2020.
Alberta Jobs, Economy and Innovation Minister Doug Schweitzer said in a statement that the numbers build off of encouraging growth seen in July, stating Alberta’s recovery plan out of the COVID-19 pandemic is diversifying the economy.
“With new investments in tech, film, energy, agriculture and more, Alberta’s Recovery Plan is creating jobs and diversifying the economy while building for the future,” said Schweitzer. “August’s job numbers confirm projections that Alberta will lead Canada in economic growth this year and next.”
Statistics Canada’s Labour Force survey shows Alberta’s numbers were similar to the national rate as the country’s overall unemployment rate dropped by 0.4 points to 7.1 per cent. There were 90,200 new jobs created in Canada between July and August, including 68,500 full-time positions.
The national unemployment is the lowest it has been since February 2020. Employment in August rose among young Canadians as well as Indigenous people and recent immigrants. The accommodation and food services industries continued to see growth nationwide.
University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe said job growth was to be expected this month as public health measures continued to remain loose in Alberta. He said that a single month’s numbers are subject to a large margin of error but the fact that there have been multiple months of growth is a positive sign.
“I try not to get surprised by individual things in a single report and instead look to trends,” said Tombe. “The broad trend here is clear that we have seen steadily improving labour market conditions over the past few months, getting close to pre-COVID levels for a lot of things like the unemployment rate, or even the under-utilization rate.”
Tombe said there continues to be room for growth in industries that were hard hit by the pandemic, which could lead to further positive job numbers in the coming months.
However, Tombe cautioned that the fourth wave of COVID-19 could create some hardships in the market and that making progress on the provincial vaccination campaign would help with curbing that threat.
“Making progress on that front is central for continuing economic recovery that we’ve been seeing over the summer months.”
Rob Roach, deputy chief economist for ATB Financial, said that while there has been positive growth, the province has still not fully returned to pre-pandemic levels.
He said many Albertans will see the latest numbers and not agree that is what they are seeing on the ground as they look for employment.
“We still have a very strong underlying economy, but it will be slow (to return to pre-pandemic numbers). It’s not going to happen overnight and that’s been proven really,” said Roach. “It has taken a long time and it’s still gonna take a while before we really see, you know, that growth over and above just catching up.”
For municipal regions, Statistics Canada uses a three-month rolling average of unemployment rates that are not adjusted for seasonal averages. Calgary’s rolling average increased in August to 10.1 per cent unemployment, up from 9.6 in July. That number is the highest of any municipal region included in the survey outside of southern Ontario. St. Catharines-Niagara and Windsor have the highest unemployment rates in the country.
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