Canada’s extremely strong month for jobs in July wasn’t felt everywhere in Alberta, but the Wood Buffalo – Cold Lake region saw the unemployment rate drop by a third of a percent.
The regional rate ticked down to 7.4 percent in July from 7.7 in June. Edmonton meanwhile, was not so lucky. Unemployment there shot up to 8.8 percent from 8.2, putting it ahead of Calgary as the toughest place to get a job in the province. Lethbridge-Medicine Hat remains the place to be for employment, having their rate fall even further this month to just 4.1 percent. Red Deer and the west of the province continue to be solid as well, with 5.8 percent each.
Nation-wide, the jobless rate has fallen to the lowest it’s been since the start of Canada’s financial crisis nine years ago. It sits at 6.3 per cent, which hasn’t been seen since October 2008.
10,900 net new jobs were added last month, following booms of 45,300 in June and 54,500 in May. Alberta lost 14,000 jobs and saw its unemployment rate rise from 7.4 per cent in June to 7.8 per cent in July.