Alberta tops in job growth
To say that Alberta has been the engine of job creation in Canada is no exaggeration
TODD HIRSCH, ATB FINANCIAL
No one has to tell Jenna Hamilton how buoyant the Alberta job market has been in the past year. She’s experienced it. Alberta has been a job-creation machine. The province, with the lowest unemployment rate in the country, accounted for close to half of all the employment growth in the country over the past 12 months, according to Statistics Canada.
The 18-year-old Hamilton was one of them when she got a new job in December at the Pandora jewelry store in Calgary’s Market Mall.
“Before, I was working in Banff. I quit there and for about half of November I was looking for a job,” she said.
She found Pandora’s position online.
“They called me that night and I got the job. . . . I was shocked. I applied for it at like five o’clock that night and I got the call around seven and I got the job right there,” Hamilton said.
Statistics Canada reported Friday that the province’s unemployment rate in December dipped to 4.9 per cent from five per cent the previous month.
While Alberta employment growth was flat on a monthly basis in December, growing by only 800 jobs, over the past 12 months it grew by 4.9 per cent or 98,800 positions.
However, more people were looking for work in the Calgary census metropolitan area, which pushed the unemployment rate in the region to 5.5 per cent in December from 5.4 per cent in November.
A year ago, the Calgary region had an unemployment rate of six per cent while it was 5.5 per cent for the province. The Calgary region saw employment growth of 2,300 people or 0.3 per cent in December from November as well as a 4.4 per cent hike, or 31,200 jobs, over the past 12 months.
Todd Hirsch, senior economist with ATB Financial in Calgary, said the pace of job growth in the province was “astounding” over the past year.
“To say that Alberta has been the engine of job creation in Canada is no exaggeration,” he said, adding that Alberta saw the seventh consecutive month of job growth in December.
“Still, the pace of job creation in Alberta has moderated significantly throughout the year — particularly since June when there was a monthly gain of 22,000. And while Alberta is still expected to add jobs in 2012, the slower pace of job creation is likely to continue this year.”
Hirsch said almost every sector posted an increase in 2011, but the bulk of the 99,000 new jobs created were in retail and wholesale trade (22,300), oil and gas extraction (13,600), health care and social assistance (13,200), agriculture (11,900) and manufacturing (11,100). “Those trends are likely to continue in 2012, especially in health care, oil and gas, and manufacturing,” he said.
“Reading the tea leaves is rife with hazard, but a likely scenario would be that Alberta continues to lead Canada in job creation in 2012, albeit at a slower pace.”
The alberta government predicts the province could face a cumulative labour shortage of up to 114,000 workers across all sectors by 2021, up from the previous shortage of 77,000 workers forecast two years ago.
Some of the occupations that anticipate shortages include a variety of trades, healthcare workers, financial services, retail sectors, public service careers and restaurant and tourism related jobs.
Nationally, following two months of declines, employment rose slightly in December, up 17,500 or 0.1 per cent. The unemployment rate edged up to 7.5 per cent from 7.4 per cent in November.
Over the past 12 months in Canada, employment growth totalled 1.2 per cent (199,200), with nearly all of the gains in the first half of the year, said Statistics Canada.