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Alberta’s unemployment rate in May dropped to levels not seen since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of people without a job decreased to 8.7 per cent last month from nine per cent in April, bringing the province’s unemployment rate back to where it was in March 2020, according to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey released Friday morning. Overall, Alberta lost roughly a thousand jobs in May with the hardest hit being in the services-producing sector.
The province’s biggest gains were in the natural resource sector followed by construction.
The survey was conducted between May 9 to 15, just as the province brought in new public health measures to curb a spike in cases.
Edmonton continues to have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country among major Canadian cities at 10.2 per cent. The highest rate was in Belleville, Ont. followed by St. Catharines–Niagara, Ont. with 10.8 per cent. Calgary’s unemployment increased slightly to 8.7 per cent.
Canada’s unemployment rate remained relatively unchanged at 8.2 per cent.
More to come…
