The unemployment rate for western Alberta has dropped by nearly 1.5 per cent over the past year. The Banff – Jasper – Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca – Grand Prairie – Peace River region was sitting at 5.3 per cent in February, down from 7.7 in 2017. The jobless rate was 5.9 per cent in January.
Unemployment in Alberta has been steadily on the decline since 2016, and is currently 6.7 per cent. Across Canada, a surge in part-time jobs led to a drop of 0.1 per cent to 5.8. It follows January’s drop of 88,000 full-time jobs.