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By Glory Przekop

Region’s unemployment rate up

Jan 5, 2018 | 6:45 AM

The jobless rate for the region that includes Grande Prairie has gone up while the national rate has reached a 40-year low.

December’s unemployment rate for the area from Jasper to Peace River jumped from 5.6 per cent in November to 6.0 per cent in December.

Despite that, Alberta added more than 26,000 new jobs and the provincial rate dropped 0.4 percentage points to 6.9 per cent.

Statistics Canada says the national jobless rate dropped to 5.7 per cent in December, down from 5.9 per cent to reach its lowest mark since comparable data became available in 1976.

The agency’s labour force survey says employment in 2017 rose 2.3 per cent for its fastest growth rate in 15 years. The economy added 422,500 jobs last year with the gains driven by 394,200 new full-time positions.

In a separate report today, Statistics Canada says the country’s merchandise trade deficit widened to $2.5 billion in November, compared with a $1.6-billion deficit the month before, as imports outgrew exports.

 

-with files from The Canadian Press 

by Glory Przekop