Local jobless rate up slightly but still trending way down

By Collin Gallant on November 4, 2017.

Medicine Hat News

The jobless rate in southern Alberta ticked slightly higher in October from the month before but remains well below the rate at this time last year, according to new figures released Friday.

That trend was generally the same across Alberta, which sits at a 7.8 per cent unemployment rate, says a report from Statistics Canada

In the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat region the rate was 5.3 per cent in October, tied for the lowest in the province. It is up from 5.1 per cent in September, but down from 6.8 per cent in October 2016.

The provincial rate is also down 0.8 per cent from 12 months ago. Month to month, about 12,000 more Albertans were employed in October.

Unemployment is the highest in major cities but both Calgary (8.2 per cent) and Edmonton (7.8 per cent) both saw declines in October.

Red Deer’s recent rate equalled the Medicine Hat-Lethbidge figure of 5.3 per cent as the lowest in Alberta. That is followed by Banff-Grand Prairie (5.8 per cent), WoodBuffalo-Cold Lake (6.9 per cent) and Camrose-Drumheller (8.2 per cent).

Alberta’s rate is tied for fourth highest in Canada, behind the four Atlantic provinces. Saskatchewan’s rate was 5.9 per cent, Manitoba’s 5.2 per cent and British Columbia’s nation’s lowest rate was 4.9 per cent.

The national rate is 6.3 per cent.

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