Today at 8:30am Eastern Stats Can released the January 2009 Labour Force Survey. Apparently Canada’s lost 129,000 jobs (or so). Where did we lose them?
But there’s a story, and Alberta’s the real winner, followed closely be Saskatchewan.
The number of Albertans employed grew by 1.3% year over year. Saskatchewan grew by over 3% because the smaller numbers make the % larger.
The number of unemployed grew by far less in Alberta.
And the employment rate remained constant in Alberta, growing slightly in Saskatchewan.
Unemployment remains lowest in the west, although BC is trying hard to screw it up.
And Alberta still leads the country in Labour Force Participation, growing by another 0.2%.
And people wonder why I choose to invest in Alberta.
Remember, you can get these charts and some summary stats on my Google Spreadsheet.
7 comments
M
Where did you get the 200 figure from?Alberta lost 5,700 jobs in January. Over the past three months, Alberta has shed 12,800 jobs.
While provincial employment actually increased by 3,300 people, that was because of job growth in service industries, which tend to have more part-time and lower-paying jobs.
https://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Province+sheds+jobs/1265395/story.html
Chris
@M It’s straight from the Stats Can numbers I referenced in the post. That’s the number of people employed, which is where they got the 129,000 number from. Really, there’s only one point I wanted to make, and it’s that Alberta isn’t suffering nearly as much as other provinces. Further, when we do, it’s with things like delaying the start of new upgrader projects, which will be flipped back on when the economy turns around in 12-18 months.
Bill
Great info Chris, surprising the papers didn’t point that out. Oh right, that wouldn’t sell as many papers would it!
Chris
We’re of the same mind Bill….not the sort of information you’d see on Garth Turner’s rag!
Thanks for the comment.
Sara MacLennan
Excellent post Chris, really puts things in perspective. Thanks!
Chris
Thanks Sara, and for mentioning it on your blog as well. I’m hoping to get some more graphs done up this weekend, as well as a coherent presentation to go with it.