EDMONTON - Alberta bucked national employment trends in November,Statistics Canada reported Friday.
The country shed 19,000 jobs last month, the agency said, bumping unemployment up from 7.3 per cent to 7.4 per cent nationwide. But in Alberta, the jobless rate shrank from 5.1 per cent to five per cent as the province added nearly 3,000 jobs in the month.
“We had a lot of job gains in some specific sectors, such as oil and gas, scientific and technical sectors, construction,” said Darrell Winwood, spokesperson with the provincial Department of Human Services. “One of the reasons, of course, is wintertime. The oil and gas sector, traditionally, tends to be busier in the winter time. When the ground gets cold and freezes, it’s easier to move the heavy equipment into the back country.”
On Thursday, City of Edmonton chief economist John Rose said the greater Edmonton area added nearly 45,000 jobs between Oct. 2010 and Oct. 2011, more than any other metropolitan area in the country.
The Statistics Canada release paints a different picture for the country as a whole.
It was the second straight month of job losses for Canada, which saw 54,000 people leave the ranks of the employed in October.
BMO Capital Markets economist Robert Kavcic pointed out that, since the middle of this year, there have been average employment losses of about 2,000 people per month, “so there’s no question that employment growth has cooled sharply.”
Still, Kavcic noted that some of the details of the November job numbers “weren’t as bad as the headline, but certainly nothing to smile about.”
For example, there was a decline of 53,000 part-time workers last month but 35,000 more people finding full-time work.
As well, there were 11,000 more people working in the private sector last month, but that wasn’t enough to make up for the 2,200 decline in public-sector workers and 27,500 fewer people considering themselves self-employed.
CIBC World Markets chief economist Avery Shenfeld also said there were some bright spots in the details of the report, though it was still indicative of a tough job market.
“Overall, while there was at least some encouraging news in the lean back towards full-time work, the overall picture is one of a continued softening in Canada’s jobs market, suggesting a slowing in economic growth after a brisk third quarter,” Shenfeld said.
This report comes after data earlier this week showed Canada’s economy grew at a faster-than-expected annualized pace of 3.5 per cent in the three months ended in September.
There were job losses in industries such as retail and wholesale trade in November, as well as support services for business and building management. Gains were seen in areas such as personal services, construction, natural resources and utilities.
Looking more broadly, there were 43,900 fewer people in service sectors in November, with 25,200 more in goods-producing sectors.
Statistics Canada highlighted employment declines of 30,500 in Quebec and 4,200 in Saskatchewan, though Nova Scotia had a relatively strong gain of 4,400.
The Alberta government predicted more job growth in the province over the coming decade on Friday. The Human Services Department released a new forecast calling for 606,000 new jobs in Alberta by 2021, along with a potential labour shortage of up to 114,000 workers in industries like health care, tradespeople, and financial services.
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