Unemployment rates in the Calgary and Edmonton regions rose in December with Edmonton’s now the highest in Canada of all major cities and Calgary the fifth highest, according to data released Friday by Statistics Canada.
The federal agency said the unemployment rate in the Calgary census metropolitan area went from 6.9 per cent in November to 7.1 per cent in December while in the Edmonton census metropolitan area it rose from 7.7 per cent to 8.0 per cent.
The Calgary region lost 6,600 jobs on a monthly basis but the Edmonton region gained 3,100 jobs.
On an annual basis, Calgary employment was up by 27,500 positions while Edmonton dropped by 11,100.
“Overall employment in Alberta was essentially unchanged on a year-over-year basis, as fewer people were working full-time and more were working part-time,” said StatsCan. The unemployment rate increased 0.6 percentage points over the year to 7.0 per cent in December 2019. “
At the same time, the number of those aged 15 to 24 in the labour force increased, leaving employment for this age group remaining relatively stable. This led the youth unemployment rate to rise 3.9 percentage points to 14.7 per cent. The employment level and the unemployment rate were little changed among the core-aged population (25 to 54 years of age), said StatsCan.
The province saw its unemployment rate decrease from 7.2 per cent in November to 7.0 per cent in December with a loss of 1,000 jobs month-over-month and a decline of 4,200 jobs year-over-year.
ATB Financial’s Economics & Research Team said the weak performance of Alberta’s labour market continued in December as full-time jobs lost ground, down 1.1 per cent (20,200) compared to a year earlier while part-time jobs increased by 3.8 per cent (16,000).
In its daily economic update The Owl, ATB said the improvement in the province’s unemployment rate was the result of fewer Albertans looking for work rather than an uptick in employment.
Nationally, employment increased by 35,000 (+0.2 per cent) in December, and the unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 5.6 per cent.
“In the 12 months to December, employment increased by 320,000 (+1.7 per cent), the result of gains in full-time work (+283,000 or +1.9 per cent). StatsCan said the national job growth was at a faster pace than that observed over the same period in 2018 (+1.1 per cent).
During the year, the unemployment rate declined to 5.4 per cent in May, a record low since comparable data became available in January 1976. At the end of 2019, the rate was 5.6 per cent, the same as in December 2018, said the federal agency.
“This employment report will allow the Bank of Canada to breathe easier, as it finishes 2019 on a solid note, and undoes some of the outsized weakness seen in the prior two months. Note that employment growth was a very strong 2.1 per cent in calendar 2019, the best reading since 2007,” said Robert Kavcic, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets.
“But, growth faded in the back half of the year, with the six-month average job gain slowing from 41,300 through June, to 12,100 by December. This looks consistent with an economy that has slowed to potential (with a very weak Q4 to boot), and we suspect that gains in 2020 will look more like the second half of 2019 than the first.
“Alberta’s job market is still struggling to find any traction. Employment fell in Q4 and was down slightly from a year ago in December. The jobless rate is stuck at seven per cent, not far below those in the Maritimes.”
Mario Toneguzzi is a business reporter in Calgary.
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