Unemployment figures for Medicine Hat remained at 5 per cent in June while the provincial figure fell to 4.9 per cent, the lowest since 2015.--News File Photo
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Alberta as a whole has caught up with Medicine Hat’s low unemployment rate in June as the province’s jobless rate matched the national average for the first time in years.
The local rate in Medicine Hat-Lethbridge region sat at 5.0 per cent last month, the same as May, and down 0.7 points from one year earlier.
That current mark sits just above the provincial figure of 4.9 per cent, which sat at nearly 9 per cent in the spring of 2021.
At that point Alberta had the highest rate outside the Maritimes, but now sits with a lower rate than Ontario (5.1 per cent).
Nationally, 4.9 per cent is the lowest cross-Canada EI number since the measure was invented in 1976
Even nation-leading Newfoundland dropped just below the 10 per cent mark.
The three-month moving average in major centres saw continued declines in Calgary (down to 5.5 per cent) and Edmonton (5.9).
Camrose and east-central Alberta led the province with a low rate of 4.1 per cent, followed by Banff-Grande Prairie (4.5), Calgary, Fort McMurray (5.5), Edmonton and Red Deer (6.9)
While the south’s June rate remained even with May’s, the sixth other economic regions saw their numbers fall.
