By Liam Verster

Unemployment rate climbs to 10%

Unemployment rate for Grande Prairie area increased in March, despite national and provincial rates declining

Apr 9, 2021 | 9:20 AM

The economic region that includes Grande Prairie and the Peace Country saw the unemployment rate rise to 10 per cent in March, up from the 9.8 recorded in February.

The increased unemployment rate for the Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River region was just one of two economic regions to report increases in Alberta. Red Deer’s unemployment rate rose from 9.9 per cent in February to 10.2 per cent in March.

Alberta as a whole saw the unemployment rate drop from 9.9 per cent in February to 9.1 per cent in March 2021. The provincial unemployment rate is still high on a year-over-year basis, as the rate was recorded at 8.7 per cent in March 2020.

Data from Statistics Canada shows the unemployment rate for men over the age of 25 in Alberta dropped from 8.6 to 8.1 per cent on a month-over-month basis, while the rate for women over the age of 25 increased from 8.2 to 8.5 per cent during the same time period.

The unemployment rate for both sexes aged 15 to 24 fell from 19.5 per cent to 14.7 per cent between February and March.

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The national unemployment rate saw a big drop in March 2021, falling to 7.5 per cent from the 8.2 per cent recorded in February 2021. The rate is the lowest it’s been since pre-pandemic levels were recorded at 7.2 per cent in February 2020.

The change comes as employment increased by 303,000, or 1.6 per cent on a month over month basis. However, there are still 1.5-million Canadians unemployed, which is up by 371,000 when compared to figures from February 2020.

Alberta’s unemployment rate is the second-highest in Canada behind Newfoundland and Labrador, where the rate was recorded at 15.3 per cent in March 2021.