Local jobless rate falls some but still up year-over-year

By Medicine Hat News on April 9, 2024.

@MedicineHatNews

The local jobless rate in March fell slightly from the month before but is higher than the same period in 2023.

New unemployment figures from Statistics Canada released April 5 state the combined Lethbridge-Medicine Hat region posted a 7.3 per cent unemployment rate last month.

That is the highest in Alberta for a second straight month and 2.2 percentage points above the level in March 2023.

It is down, however, in the month-to-month comparison and the rate of 8.2 per cent in February.

During the recent month, rates in Edmonton and Fort McMurrary-Wood Buffalo also rose among Alberta’s economic regions, to 6.9 and 5.5 per cent, respectively.

Calgary and Red Deer figures sat at 7 per cent each.

Camrose-Drumheller had the lowest rate at 5.0 per cent, followed by Banff-Grande Prairie at 5.1.

The provincial rate of 6.7 per cent was up 0.4 point, and sat one half point above the national average of 6.2 per ent.

Saskatchewan’s rate was 5.4 per cent, also up about one-half point, but Swift Current-Moose Jaw region also up at 4.7 per cent.

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