Falling jobless rate shows coming employment issues

By Collin Gallant on December 8, 2018.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

Recent jobs numbers are providing evidence that Medicine Hat may be facing a labour crunch ahead of major new industry opening next year.

That’s contrary to much of the general conversation occurring over the past several years, when complaints of flat economic activity and concerns about joblessness were high.

However, economic developers are now saying matching workers to job opportunities is becoming more difficult.

That led to this month’s announcement that the City of Medicine Hat will in January begin to develop a labour strategy aimed to support business expansion and retention.

When the measure was approved at city council this week, Coun. Jim Turner said when courting new business the city can promote Medicine Hat but has to be able to deliver an available workforce.

Another new facet of the strategy is to determine needs of existing business as part of a business retention strategy.

“Filling 200 to 300 vacant jobs (in existing businesses) would be like adding another major industry,” said Turner, who represents the city on several economic development boards.

In terms of new employment over the next year, Aurora Cannabis plans to hire 400 full-time workers to operate its marijuana growing facility under construction.

Capital Power, as well, plans to hire a large number of construction workers, then operations staff at the Whitla Windfarm. Three hotels, a seniors’ living facility and grocery store will also be underway or opened in 2019.

Staffing those positions could be a tough task considering the size of the local workforce and a local unemployment rate that’s hovered below five per cent for much of 2018.

The rate in the region for November sat at 3.9 per cent, which economists say is below a so-called “full employment” line where both employers and workers have some flexibility and mobility.

The study is being funded through money already allocated to the city’s business support office, as well as a provincial grant, money from Medicine Hat College and several major employers.

It would determine strategies to make up skill deficits in the local workforce, attract talented and skilled workers and match employment programming to employer needs.

A taskforce would also determine opportunities in the region to focus economic development efforts.

Local breakdown

The unemployed rate in southern Alberta fell further in November and now sits at 3.9 per cent in the local region, according to figures released Friday morning.

That figure for the Medicine Hat-Lethbridge region is down one-and-a-half percentage points from last autumn, and lower than the previous month’s rate of 4.1 per cent.

The provincial rate of 6.3 per cent sits one percentage point lower both month-to-month and year-over year, driven down by 26,000 new jobs created in November.

The jobless rate was lower in the province’s two major cities and four of five rural regions. Calgary’s three-month adjusted rate sits at 7.9 per cent, and Edmonton’s is 6.2 per cent.

Nationally, the unemployment rate fell to 5.6 per cent.

22
-21

Comments are closed.