Regional jobless rate ticks up in August
By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on September 15, 2023.
https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews Local unemployment rose in August, according to new figures released by the Alberta government on Wednesday. The jobless rate last month sat at 6.2 per cent in the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat region. That’s up from 5.9 per cent the previous month and well above the August 2022 rate of 3.6 per cent. Unemployment rose in five of Alberta’s seven economic regions on a year-over-year basis during the month. The rate fell in Wood Buffalo (Fort McMurray) and Camrose-Drumheller, but rose in Calgary (to 5.8 per cent) and Edmonton (6.1 per cent). The provincial rate rose to 5.7 per cent, up two-tenths of a point from the same time in 2022, even though the number of employed people rose by nearly 100,000 to almost 2.5 million this summer. The number of unemployed rose by 10,000 while the available labour force grew by 109,000. 8-7
