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Alberta lost 37,000 full-time jobs in June: StatCan

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CALGARY -

Canada's job market is showing signs of recovery as more COVID-19 restrictions lift, but the province leading the reopening charge isn't seeing immediate positive employment results. 

Alberta's job numbers took a step back in June, according to Statistics Canada's latest Labour Market Survey. 

The survey says the province lost a total of 37,000 full-time jobs last month. 

Part-time jobs were up 36,800. 

That all resulted in an unemployment uptick to 9.3 per cent, something many economists weren't expecting after a largely encouraging May. 

"Health restrictions were lifted, the economy reopened and people went back to work," TD Securities Strategist Andrew Kelvin told CTV News. "A strong month of June was the bare minimum we should have expected."

Thousands of Albertans went looking for work, but the influx wasn't matched by an increase in employment. 

The food, retail and accommodation industries did have a big month: jobs largely impacted by stage two of Alberta's Open for Summer plan. 

The province's youth unemployment rate also rose in June. Jobless and looking 15-to-24-year-old Albertans are now the highest in the country at 18.1 per cent.

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