There were more than 10,000 new jobs created in Alberta in November as the province’s unemployment rate dipped to the lowest in the country, according to Statistics Canada.
The federal agency reported Friday that employment in Alberta was up by 10,100 positions from the previous month, an increase of 0.5 per cent. Year-over-year, employment has risen by 1.8 per cent or 38,900 positions in Alberta.
In November, the province’s unemployment rate fell to 4.2 per cent, down from 4.5 per cent in October.
In the Calgary census metropolitan area, the unemployment rate remained the same as in October at 4.7 per cent but the region created 5,200 new jobs, up 0.7 per cent on a monthly basis. Employment also grew by 3.1 per cent year-over-year to 23,000 new positions.
Edmonton’s unemployment rate of 4.1 per cent and Calgary’s rate of 4.7 per cent were ranked second and third, respectively, among Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas, behind Regina’s 4.0 per cent.
“After a few months of subdued growth, Alberta’s labour market kicked back into high gear in November,” said Todd Hirsch, senior economist with ATB Financial. But virtually all of these jobs were part-time positions, he added.
“Alberta’s job market showed more strength on the service side of the economy in November than on the goods-producing side. Indeed, some of the goods-producing sectors that had been showing the strongest growth this year — construction, oil and gas, and manufacturing — all shed positions in November. The strongest job gains last month were in food and accommodation (7,400), health care and social assistance (6,500), and transportation and warehousing (6,100).”
But he said Alberta’s job market has moderated in 2012. For example, 99,000 jobs were added in the province in the 12 months leading up to November 2011.
“But the slower pace of job creation is actually healthy,” explained Hirsch. “Job markets can be too tight, leading employers to hire workers with inadequate experience or training. With the unemployment rate already at 4.2 per cent, the province is getting a bit too close to labour shortages. And, indeed, in many parts of northeastern Alberta, those shortages are already here.”
Nationally, employment rose by 59,000 in November as the unemployment rate declined 0.2 percentage points to 7.2 per cent.
Compared with 12 months earlier, employment increased 1.7 per cent or 294,000 across Canada.
Doug Porter, deputy chief economist of BMO Capital Markets, said November was “a rock-solid Canadian employment result.”
It was the biggest employment gain since March.
“After a wave of weaker than expected economic releases in Canada, this robust report is a major breath of fresh air for the economy,” said Porter. “While one jobs report doesn’t change the bigger picture, it does show there is still some underlying resiliency in the domestic economy.”
Dina Ignjatovic, economist with TD Economics, said the national unemployment rate is the lowest level since June.
“The (job) increases in November were fairly widespread, though the services-producing sector (65,700) was the bright spot,” she said. “Accommodation and food services (28,300) recorded the largest increase, marking only the third month of job creation in the sector this year. The trade sector (25,300) also recorded outsized gains in November, the fifth increase in seven months.
She said the job market will be facing several headwinds in the future.
“The public sector is dealing with spending constraints which is likely to limit hiring prospects, while the private sector will continue to be faced with a slower growing economy,” she explained. “Add to that, that persistent uncertainty surrounding global economic growth and the ability of policy-makers in the U.S. to address their fiscal challenges, and businesses will not likely be rushing to ramp up their workforce. Once the external environment does improve — likely by mid-2013 — related sectors such, as manufacturing, will likely respond with increased employment. Overall, we expect employment to be fairly steady next year, increasing by an average of about 15,000 jobs per month, with the unemployment rate holding fairly steady.”