Regional jobless rate drops, but still up over last year

By Medicine Hat News on November 9, 2019.

Unemployment eased in southern Alberta in October, by remains up sharply from one year ago, according to new figures released on Friday.

The jobless rate in the Medicine Hat-Lethbridge region sat at 6.4 per cent last month, a point lower than in September, but more than two points higher than in October 2018.

Across the province the rate fell by half a percentage point year-over year to 6.7 per cent, led by lower numbers in Calgary, but the rate compares high to a steady national rate of 5.5 per cent.

The News does not cite localized figures as Statistics Canada considers them unreliable, and economists prefer the year-over-year comparison to consider seasonal economic factors, such as break-up, the growing season and the school year.

The broad number for southeast and southwest Alberta in September was 7.6 per cent, and the October 2018 figure was 4.1 per cent.

In the year-to-year analysis, Calgary’s seasonally adjusted figure of 7.2 per cent is down from 8.1 per cent and nearly matches Edmonton’s current rate of 7.1 per cent. The Red Deer region recorded the highest rate in the province at 7.3 per cent, while Camrose-Drumheller (4.3) was the lowest. Wood Buffalo sat at 5.1 per cent and Grande Prairie’s number was 5.8 per cent.

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