UCP says Alberta's 'swagger' is back amid 64 per cent November employment rate
Alberta's employment rate was the highest among all provinces last month, generating optimism among provincial officials.
According to Statistics Canada’s November 2021 Labour Force Survey, the province's employment sits at 64 per cent.
Jobs in Alberta increased by 15,000 (+0.7%) in November, with the "other services," wholesale and retail trade, and construction industries accounting for the increase.
Alberta's unemployment rate, meanwhile, sat at 7.6 per cent in November, unchanged from October. While other provinces did see decreases, Alberta's rate is still only slightly higher than the 7.5 per cent recorded in February 2020, before COVID-19 hit.
Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation Doug Schweitzer said Friday that the numbers show Alberta's economic momentum is continuing to build.
“This year was the year that Alberta got our swagger back," Schweitzer said in a statement. "Next year will be the year we prove to the world that we are the absolute best place to invest, create jobs and raise your family.”
Schweitzer credited tech investment from Amazon Web Services as well as a new ground breaking investment from Northern Petrochemical for collectively creating more than 5,000 jobs in our province last month.
“We also announced nearly $850 million in investment from four agricultural projects that will create nearly 2,000 jobs," he said.
“We’ve continued to see signs of revival in our energy industry, with oil and gas production and exports at all-time highs.
“The third-quarter venture capital investment numbers show that our province has set another record in 2021, with three months still to go."
'REMARKABLE MONTH'
In a tweet, Premier Jason Kenney said November was a "remarkable month" for Alberta's economic recovery.
Though he acknowledged that it was encouraging to see jobs added last month, NDP Economic Development and Innovation Critic Deron Bilous said Friday that there were still several “concerning trends” of note in Alberta’s job market.
He noted that Alberta’s unchanged unemployment rate remains higher than the national average of 6.0 per cent and significantly higher than Ontario, Quebec and our neighbouring provinces.
“All Albertans are being hit with steeply rising costs and a growing unaffordability crisis. The UCP is making this situation worse by forcing Alberta to pay more income tax, more property tax, more school fees, more tuition, more interest on student debt, more camping fees, more for utilities and more for car insurance,” Bilous said in a statement.
RBC senior economist Robert Hogue says one thing that could slow down Alberta's economic rebound is a potential labour shortage as new positions are created.
Hogue says that could put Alberta workers in an advantageous position when it comes to leveraging higher salaries.
"It probably sets a stage for stronger wage increases going forward,” he said.
"We're not seeing those quite yet overall, but those are the conditions that we know typically will generate stronger wage increases. So for households in Alberta, this is obviously good, good news."
MAJOR HURDLE
For organizations and businesses across the province, a labour shortage could become a major hurdle.
Hogue says what we’re seeing right now in the job market is somewhat reminiscent of what the province saw in the early 2010s.
"They were a huge issue at that time. And so, businesses will have to find ways to attract and retain talent."
In Edmonton, the city's unemployment rate dropped to 7.6 per cent in November from 8.0 in October.
Calgary's unemployment rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point, sitting at 8.1 per cent in November compared to 8.0 per cent the month prior.
"Overall, November didn’t see any significant gains or losses on the unemployment front in Calgary," said Dexter Lam, senior manager of talent at Calgary Economic in a Friday news release.
"We had small increases in both employment and labour force participation, but due to the labour force being slightly higher the amount of people employed, we experienced a small increase in unemployment.”
Lam noted that the numbers are from a period before the emergence of the Omicron variant as well as the first of the B.C. landslides.
"This means any impacts these events may have on our labour force and across sectors remain to be seen,” Lam said.
"We know we may still see some challenges on our road to recovery, but we remain cautiously optimistic about our city’s economic future."
Calgary and Windsor, Ont. were tied with Canada's third-highest jobless rate in the 34 metropolitan areas surveyed; only Abbotsford-Mission, B.C. and Peterborough, Ont. recorded higher numbers, sitting at 8.2 per cent and 8.4 per cent respectively.
Nationally, the unemployment rate fell to 6.0 per cent last month compared with 6.7 per cent in October.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.
Rare severe solar storm Friday could bring spectacular aurora light show across Canada
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
More than half the Canadians once detained in Syrian camps for suspected ISIS family members have returned home
A total of 29 Canadians have been freed from detention camps in northeast Syria and brought back to Canada since human rights advocates began lobbying for their release years ago.
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
Canada abstains from Palestinian UN membership vote but supports two-state solution
Canada was one of 25 countries that abstained from a United Nations vote on Palestinian membership that passed with overwhelming support on Friday.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
'I may have some nightmares:' Man survives being bitten by 2 sharks in Bahamas
A man who was bitten by two sharks in the Bahamas said Thursday he's 'thankful that I'm here' while sharing his story of survival.
Here's how much more Canadian landlords are asking for now, according to a just-released report
A new report says the average asking rent for a home in Canada in April was up 9.3 per cent compared with a year ago, while a slight month-over-month increase was also recorded for the first time since January.