Alberta loses 11,000 jobs, lags other provinces

Alberta lost 11,000 jobs in November and continues to lag behind other provinces in its return to pre-pandemic employment levels.

The unemployment rate remained relatively unchanged last month at 11.1 per cent, a 0.4-percent increase from October, Statistics Canada said Friday in its latest Labour Force Survey.

Edmonton saw 5,300 job gains, but again recorded the highest unemployment among major Canadian cities, which remained at 12 per cent.

The labour estimates cover the week of Nov. 8-14 — before the government of Alberta announced new public health restrictions Nov. 24 that saw more limited retail capacity, bans on indoor social gatherings, and moving Grade 7 to 12 students from in-class learning to online.

Alberta's Jobs, Economy and Innovation Minister Doug Schweitzer said in response to the jobs numbers Friday that economic recovery from the pandemic will not be a straight path.

“After six months of positive job growth with an overall recovery from pre-pandemic levels of 247,000 jobs and 10,000 new private sector jobs over the last month, we have seen encouraging signs of a recovery that is a credit to small businesses across Alberta,” said Schweitzer in a news release.

The latest losses come after a sixmonth-long streak of overall job gains, but Alberta is still far from recovering to its pre-pandemic employment levels.

By November, employment in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick had returned to pre-pandemic levels. Alberta is farthest behind that

benchmark, with employment 4.9 per cent below.

Employment was 1.5 per cent short of its February levels in British Columbia last month, while Manitoba was 4.8 per cent under.

NDP economic development critic Deron Bilous said Premier Jason Kenney has failed to take effective targeted measures against the spread of COVID-19, and the fallout from the pandemic is wreaking havoc on the economy.

“Jason Kenney and the UCP are shooting blindfolded. They do not know what measures to implement because they do not have the data,” said Bilous, who called for better contact tracing, mandatory masking, and more supports for small businesses.

Last week, the government expanded its relaunch grant program for small businesses to allow more to qualify for up to $5,000 in funding.

Bilous said that isn't enough to support small businesses and repeated NDP calls for an emergency rent subsidy as well as the reinstatement of utility deferrals and commercial eviction protection, which were enacted in the spring.

“Businesses are closing and some of them closing their doors indefinitely because there is a lack of supports,” said Bilous.

Across the country, the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 per cent from 8.9 per cent, continuing a steady decrease from the record high unemployment rate of 13.7 per cent in May.

Ontario, B.C., and all four Atlantic provinces saw job gains.

Jason Kenney and the UCP are shooting blindfolded. They do not know what measures to implement because they do not have the data.