Provincial jobless rate inches up slightly

Increase in full-time positions a ‘positive takeaway,’ ATB says

Alberta’s unemployment rate edged up slightly to 5.8 per cent in May, the highest rate the province has seen since January 2011, Statistics Canada said Friday.

On a year-over-year basis, employment gains in Alberta totalled 38,000, an increase of 1.7 per cent.

But there has been little employment growth in the province since the start of 2015, Statistics Canada said.

The national unemployment rate was 6.8 per cent in May, unchanged for the fourth consecutive month.

British Columbia, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia gained jobs while all other provinces saw overall losses.

Alberta’s 5.8-per-cent unemployment rate was the third lowest in the country, behind Manitoba at 5.7 per cent and Saskatchewan at 4.9 per cent.

Alberta’s unemployment rate increased in May by 0.3 per cent from April, representing 6,400 fewer jobs overall.

Part-time employment fell by 26,600 while full-time jobs increased 20,200 — a “positive take-away,” said Todd Hirsch, chief economist at ATB Financial.

While the public sectors hed 4,200 jobs and the private sector lost 6,500 positions in May, 4,300 more people became self-employed.

Hirsch said an increase in self-employment is typical for a downturn and speaks to “the adaptability and the flexibility” of Alberta’s labour market.

“My guess is that those people who have become self-employed probably wish that they hadn’t been laid off in the first place,” he said. “However, I think it shows that the entrepreneurial attitude in the province is more than a myth, that in fact it is real.

“When people lose their employment, often the first thing they’ll do is become self-employed — pick up some contract work here and there, cobble together whatever they can — and that actually provides a lot of stability, not only to the labour market but also to household income.”

The biggest job losses in Alberta were in transportation and warehousing (6,800); professional, scientific and technical services (6,000); the services-producing sector (5,000); public administration (4,600); and oil, gas and other resource extraction (3,800).

Notable gains were in accommodation and food services (4,300); construction (4,100); finance, insurance, real estate and leasing (3,800); and health care and social assistance (2,200).

In his bulletin The Owl, Hirsch said the job losses in May were not surprising considering the weak energy market.

“But the fact that Alberta has lost jobs in only four of the last 12 months — and is still up 38,000 jobs in the last year — should dispel the myth that the labour market has collapsed,” he wrote.