Although the unemployment rate in the Whitecourt region ticked up slightly in June, it still has the lowest rate in the province.
According to the latest Labour Force Survey from Statistics Canada, the Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River region reported an unemployment rate of 5.0 per cent in June, up slightly from 4.9 per cent in May.
That was the lowest rate across Alberta’s seven statistical regions.
The Camrose-Drumheller region had the second-lowest unemployment rate at 6.0 per cent, with Red Deer following at 6.3 per cent. In Alberta’s urban centres, Calgary posted a rate of 7.0 per cent, just below Edmonton’s rate of 7.2 per cent.
(Statistics Canada/Labour Force Survey)
Provincewide, Alberta’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.0 per cent in June, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous month and up 0.2 percentage points from the same month last year.
That put Alberta 1.5 percentage points above the national average of 6.5 per cent. Alberta also tied with Ontario for the fourth-highest unemployment rate in Canada.
(Statistics Canada/Labour Force Survey)
The province added 20,200 workers to the labour force in June, bringing the total to 2.88 million, up from 2.86 million in May.
Month-over-month, the private sector saw the biggest jump in employment (+12,200), while employment decreased in the public sector (-4,100) and self-employment (-1,500).
The wholesale and retail trade (+4,800) and construction (+4,400) industries reported the greatest employment growth in June, while the transportation and warehousing (-3,800) industry reported the greatest losses.
Canada’s unemployment rate declined by 0.1 percentage point to 6.5 per cent in June.
