So many job seekers in Alberta have found work in recent months that employment in the province has rebounded to pre-oil price slump levels, according to a report released Friday by BMO Capital Markets.
A declining jobless rate in Calgary has helped the city in particular surge back into the top 10 on BMO’s city performance rankings, according to the report by economist Robert Kavcic.
“For the record, the city was ranked right at rock bottom at the start of 2017,” he says in the report.
Statistics Canada noted on Friday in its latest Labour Force Survey that Alberta posted 26,000 new jobs last month, most of them full-time, as the provincial jobless rate dropped to 6.9 per cent in the last quarter of 2017.
“Employment gains were observed in a number of industries, led by accommodation and food services, and by natural resources,” the report said.
Alberta’s unemployment rate is at its lowest level since 2015, University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe tweeted.
Looking at the employment rate (emp to pop ratio), AB is now about 1% below the pre-recession level or about two-thirds recovered. Still proceeding in line with 1991, and better than 2008 or 1981. #ableg pic.twitter.com/rTm4y7redN
But for Alberta’s main cities — Calgary and Edmonton — the rate is still 7.5 per cent, which is lower than only St. John’s and Saskatoon.
And while total employment is now higher than the pre-recession peak, that doesn’t mean the labour market has fully recovered, given that Alberta’s population has also risen, Tombe said on Twitter.