The Calgary census metropolitan area lost 33,900 jobs in May as the region’s unemployment rate jumped to 13.4 per cent from 10.8 per cent in April, according to data released Friday by Statistics Canada.
Data also indicate the city has lost 114,600 jobs since a year ago.
The Edmonton census metropolitan area lost 48,200 jobs from the previous month while its unemployment rate jumped from 10 per cent to 13.6 per cent. From a year ago, the city has lost 119,800 jobs.
Meanwhile, the number of employed people in Alberta grew by 28,000 in May, following a cumulative decline of 361,000 from February to April.
The federal agency said the employment increase in the province was entirely driven by the services-producing sector (+33,000). The unemployment rate increased 2.1 percentage points to 15.5 per cent.
“Alberta allowed some businesses such as restaurants and non-essential shops to start operating from May 14,” it said.
From a year ago, the province has lost 349,700 jobs.
“The rise in the unemployment rate was not the result of additional job losses but rather the return of about 89,000 Albertans to the labour force after dropping out in March and April on the assumption that looking for work was pointless during the lockdown or because they needed to isolate themselves,” said ATB Financial in its daily economic update The Owl.
“The labour force was, however, still down by 148,000 in May compared to February (-5.9 per cent) so there were still a lot of “discouraged workers” yet to return to the job market. The number of jobs in the province actually increased in May compared to April by 28,000, but the gain was entirely in the form of part-time work with 27,000 full-time jobs lost and 55,000 part-time positions added.”
From February to April, 5.5 million Canadian workers were affected by the COVID-19 economic shutdown. This included a drop in employment of three million and a COVID-19-related increase in absences from work of 2.5 million, said StatsCan.
“In May, employment rose by 290,000 (+1.8 per cent), while the number of people who worked less than half their usual hours dropped by 292,000 (-8.6 per cent). Combined, these changes in the labour market represented a recovery of 10.6 per cent of the COVID-19-related employment losses and absences recorded in the previous two months,” said the federal agency.
Three-quarters of the employment gains from April to May were in full-time work (+219,000 or +1.6 per cent). Compared with February, full-time employment was down 11.1 per cent in May, while part-time work was down 27.6 per cent, it said.
“The unemployment rate was 13.7 per cent in May, the highest rate recorded since comparable data became available in 1976. In February, prior to the COVID-19 economic shutdown, the unemployment rate was 5.6 per cent. It increased to 7.8 per cent in March and 13.0 per cent in April,” explained StatsCan.
“From February to April, the total number of unemployed Canadians more than doubled. This COVID-19-related surge was driven by temporary layoffs, with the vast majority of the newly-unemployed expecting to return to their previous job within six months and not necessarily actively looking for another job. At the same time, large increases were recorded in the number of people who wanted to work but did not meet the definition of unemployed because they did not actively look for a job, presumably because of the restrictions and economic conditions associated with COVID-19.”
