Local unemployment ticks up slightly

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on December 4, 2021.

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

The unemployment rate in rural southern Alberta rose slightly month to month in November, while maintaining strong gains over late autumn in 2020.

Most regions in Alberta saw the jobless rate fall in statistics released Friday by Statistics Canada.

The rate in the Medicine Hat-Lethbridge economic region however, rose two 10ths of a percentage point to 5.5% last month. That is still way down from 9.7% 12 months ago.

The rate across Alberta remained even, though the number of workers increased.

ATB economists attributed the gains to mostly part-time work while an increase in the size of the workforce kept the overall unemployment level even with the previous month at 7.6%.

That is down from 11.1% in November 2020.

In bare figures, 2.28 million Albertans were employed during the month, about 16,000 more than during October, and 106,000 more than in late 2020.

Nationally, the unemployment rate was 6% and the number of employed Canadians was higher than pre-pandemic levels for the third straight month.

Saskatchewan’s rate was 5.2%, and Quebec posted the lowest figure at 4.5%.

Across Alberta jobs were gained in both the goods producing sector, led by utilities and construction, and the service sector, led by growth in retail trade.

Medicine Hat-Lethbridge region posted the lowest jobless rate in the province, followed by Wood Buffalo-Ft. McMurray (6.1%), Red Deer (6.6), Banff-Grande Prairie (6.7), Edmonton (7.0), Calgary (7.7) and Camrose-Drumheller (8.9).