Alberta's unemployment rises in July as Calgary, Edmonton remain stable

Ely Ryan, president of Plumb Run Mechanical says he is busy trying to keep up with numerous jobs, with a short staff.

“We've actually had to turn down you know, 20 to $30,000 worth of work, because I just don't have the manpower to execute it,” said Ryan.

Ryan says he thinks he may have found a solution called Labour Lend.

It’s a technology where plumbing companies can access a staff sharing database to help alleviate stress on smaller companies, or have others lend their employees to help with other jobs.

“We lend out our staff to other busy plumbing companies to fill in that gap so we can keep them employed, they can keep their benefit packages and we can keep our bottom line sound,” he said.

“So we lend instead of lay off.”

Alberta's unemployment rate rose four-tenths of a percentage point in July with more people searching for work.

Statistics Canada released its July 2023 Labour Force Survey on Friday, which showed Alberta's jobless numbers climbing to 6.1 per cent from 5.7 per cent the month before.

Alberta was one of three provinces that saw employment increase in July – by 12,000 (+0.5 per cent) – including New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

"Compared with July 2022, employment was up by 83,000 (+3.5 per cent), with nearly three-quarters of the increase occurring over the first seven months of 2023," the report reads.

UNCHANGED

Calgary's unemployment rate was unchanged in July, sitting at 6.3 per cent.

Calgary had the fourth-highest jobless rate in Canada among the 36 metropolitan areas surveyed, with only Toronto (6.4 per cent), Peterborough, Ont., (6.8 per cent) and Belleville, Ont., (10.2 per cent) recording higher statistics.

Calgary saw a net employment increase across sectors of 1,400 jobs, a month-over-month growth of 0.2 per cent.

Calgary’s Economic Development says the city’s labour market growth from last quarter plateaued in July.

“The employment growth and labour force participation, growth in Calgary, is starting to plateau a bit or slow down relative to the last four months,” said director of economic intelligence Dexter Lam.

“We've been pretty much going gangbusters where we saw the rest of the country pretty much plateauing or like gently slowing down since about April.”

Lam adds that Calgary will actually feel the impacts of a recession, if one were to occur in the coming months, less severely than the rest of Canada.

Concordia University economist Moshe Lander says an influx of people moving from Ontario and B.C. is putting some strain on the job market.

“Canada's population, particularly Alberta is rising fast,” said Lander.

“So the ability of the economy to be able to absorb all of those people seamlessly is always going to be a logistical problem.”

He adds that the labour market is always a push-and-pull relationship between employers and employees.

“Unless employers are perfectly attuned to who's coming, what are the skills they're bringing, and how are we going to absorb them quickly, you're going to have these frictions,” he said.

Edmonton's jobless rate was largely unchanged, dipping one-tenth of a percentage point to sit at six per cent.

Lethbridge, meanwhile, jumped to 5.7 per cent compared to 5.3 per cent in June.

Nationally, the unemployment rate rose to 5.5 per cent in July amid population growth.

Statistics Canada says the economy lost a modest 6,400 jobs.