By Liam Verster

Labour Force Statistics

Economic region that includes Grande Prairie saw the unemployment rate decline in May

Jun 4, 2021 | 9:29 AM

Figures from Statistics Canada show the unemployment rate for the economic region that includes Grande Prairie and the Peace Region declined on a month-over-month basis to 9.5 per cent in May.

That figure for the Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River economic region, which is unadjusted for seasonality, is down from the 9.8 recorded in April.

This figure is slightly offset by the fact that the unadjusted employment rate also fell from 65.1 to 64.9 per cent between April and May.

On a year-over-year comparison, the labour stats have improved significantly since May 2020 when the unemployment rate was 14.1 per cent, and the employment rate was recorded at 59 per cent.

The month-over-month improvement to the Western Alberta economic region’s unemployment rate was not the biggest in the province. On a month-over-month basis, Lethbridge-Medicine Hat’s rate fell 1.4 per cent from 8.7 to 7.3; Calgary’s rate dropped from 9.7 to 8.9; Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake’s rate went from 7.8 to 7.1; Camrose-Drumheller’s rate fell from 7.6 to 6.9; and Red Deer’s rate dropped from 10.6 to 10.2 per cent.

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Edmonton’s rate fell from 10.6 to 10.3, which is the same change recorded in the Western Alberta region.

More unadjusted data from Statistics Canada shows Western Alberta’s total labour force fell by 1,300 in May 2021 to 196,800, while the population stayed the same at 274,400.

Full-time employment in Western Alberta rose by 400 between April and May to 146,500, while part-time employment fell by 900 to 31,600 during that same time period.

Meanwhile, Alberta as a whole saw the unemployment rate, as adjusted for seasonality, decrease from 9.0 in April to 8.7 in May 2021 (8.4 to 8.3 unadjusted).

Alberta’s rate in May was middle of the pack compared to the other provinces. Newfoundland and Labrador (13.4 per cent), Nova Scotia (9.8) Prince Edward Island (9.6), Ontario (9.3) and New Brunswick (9.0) all had higher adjusted unemployment rates. This is a big change from April, when Alberta had the second highest unemployment rate in the country.

As a whole Canada’s national adjusted unemployment rate rose from 8.1 to 8.2 per cent between April and May 2021. Statistics Canada says the rate rose as the economy lost another 68,000 jobs.

The national employment rate was recorded at 59.4 per cent in May, down slightly from the 59.6 in April.

The national youth unemployment rate (15-24 years old) was 15.9 per cent in May (down from 16.1 in April), while the unemployment rate for men in May was 6.9 (6.6 in April) and the rate for women was 7 (7 in April).