The federal government released their April 2024 job numbers last week, and job numbers are up in Alberta.
The net increase to jobs between last month and March was 10,600.
Among workers 25 years of age and older, men saw the larger job decreases between February and March. There were 6,900 more men over 25 at work last month compared to March. That number jumps to 14,000, however, if you include those who are 15–24 years old.
On the other hand, 800 fewer wpmen over 25 were employed in April over the previous month—but that changes to a loss of 3,400 if you include the younger group.
Statistics Canada provided no data on non-binary or intersex workers.
Here’s how Alberta’s new jobs compare to the other provinces:
| Mar 2024 | Apr 2024 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ON | 7,970,500 | 7,995,500 | 25,000 | 0.31% |
| BC | 2,847,800 | 2,871,200 | 23,400 | 0.82% |
| QC | 4,515,200 | 4,534,400 | 19,200 | 0.43% |
| AB | 2,526,900 | 2,537,500 | 10,600 | 0.42% |
| NB | 390,900 | 398,700 | 7,800 | 2.00% |
| MB | 700,400 | 703,300 | 2,900 | 0.41% |
| SK | 597,100 | 598,200 | 1,100 | 0.18% |
| PEI | 91,900 | 92,600 | 700 | 0.76% |
| NL | 243,700 | 244,100 | 400 | 0.16% |
| NS | 516,400 | 515,500 | -900 | -0.17% |
Ontario saw the largest increase in jobs among all the provinces, with 25,000 jobs added in just one month.
Of the 9 provinces who saw job gains last month, Alberta was saw the 4th largest increase, which would make sense, given that we have the fourth largest population. We drop to 5th place, however, when we look at the new jobs as a percentage of March’s job numbers.
Nova Scotia saw the largest decrease in new jobs, in absolute numbers and percentage, with 900 fewer people working last month than in January. In fact, it was the only province that saw a lows in jobs.
Most industries in Alberta actually saw an increase in jobs. Of the 13 sectors where jobs increased in March, “forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas” had the highest gains: 6,400.
Of 3 remaining sectors reported by Statistics Canada, all of them saw job losses in Alberta:
| Wholesale and retail trade | -4,600 |
| Health care and social assistance | -3,900 |
| Agriculture | -2,100 |
Combined, these 3 industries lost 10,600 jobs, 43% of which came from just the “wholesale and retail trade” sector. This is the second month in a row where this sector has seen the largest job losses.
Compared to a year ago, the industry with the highest job gains was “forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas”, increasing by over 20,000 new jobs, a jump of 15%. “Professional, scientific and technical services” saw the largest decrease over the last year, losing nearly 13,000 jobs.
| Apr 2023 | Apr 2024 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas | 132,600 | 152,800 | 20,200 | 15.23% |
| Other services (except public administration) | 96,000 | 111,400 | 15,400 | 16.04% |
| Construction | 239,600 | 253,400 | 13,800 | 5.76% |
| Business, building and other support services | 71,000 | 84,700 | 13,700 | 19.30% |
| Health care and social assistance | 319,300 | 331,600 | 12,300 | 3.85% |
| Public administration | 112,100 | 124,200 | 12,100 | 10.79% |
| Accommodation and food services | 130,300 | 139,800 | 9,500 | 7.29% |
| Information, culture and recreation | 81,500 | 88,100 | 6,600 | 8.10% |
| Manufacturing | 143,900 | 149,300 | 5,400 | 3.75% |
| Utilities | 20,300 | 24,900 | 4,600 | 22.66% |
| Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing | 129,300 | 132,400 | 3,100 | 2.40% |
| Educational services | 161,600 | 163,200 | 1,600 | 0.99% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 152,600 | 152,500 | -100 | -0.07% |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 357,500 | 352,500 | -5,000 | -1.40% |
| Agriculture | 46,000 | 37,800 | -8,200 | -17.83% |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 251,900 | 239,100 | -12,800 | -5.08% |
The report from Statistics Canada also shows that Alberta’s private sector grew by 6,100 between March and April; however, there were only 6,500 more private-sector jobs than this time last year. Public sector jobs were down by 2,200 over March but higher than April 2023 by 3,100. Self employed jobs were up by 6,700 over March but up by just 2,000 over April 2023.
Part-time jobs made up all of the job gains last month. Alberta gained 14,000 part-time jobs (seasonally adjusted) between March and April, but they lost 3,400 full-time jobs.
There were 13,800 men full-time workers who gained jobs last month. By comparison, the number of women who worked full-time decreased by 17,100 during the same period.
In June 2019, the month before the Job Creation Tax Cut came into effect, there were 1,886,700 people working full-time. Last month, there were 2,067,700. That means that there are 181,000 more full-time jobs than there were before the UCP cut the tax on corporate profits.
While more full-time jobs does seem like a good thing, let’s take a look at how much of a percentage of total jobs are full-time jobs. In June 2019, full-time jobs made up 82.50% of all jobs in the province.
Last month, they were at 81.489%, meaning that in the more than 4.5 years since the UCP government introduced the so-called Job Creation Tax Cut, the percentage of Alberta workers being employed in full-time positions has decreased. There were a handful of times during 2023 when this number passed 82.5%, but it was always only marginally and came right back down the following month.
Even though more people are working full-time now than in June 2019, there are more people working overall. Which means that full-time job growth hasn’t kept up with population growth.
Speaking of full-time jobs, wages for full-time workers in Alberta increased by 65¢, from a median of $33.00 an hour in March.
Part-time wages, on the other hand, remained unchanged at $19.00 per hour, where it’s been for 5 out of the last 6 months. The median wage for both full-time and part-time jobs combined increased to $30.77, up from $33.00, where it had been since last September.
Alberta was tied for British Columbia for the highest median full-time hourly wage in April 2024.
| BC | $33.65 |
| AB | $33.65 |
| ON | $33.00 |
| QC | $32.00 |
| SK | $31.50 |
| NL | $29.32 |
| NS | $28.72 |
| MB | $28.37 |
| PEI | $27.00 |
| NB | $27.00 |
This is the first time in 8 months that Alberta has had the highest median hourly wage for full-time workers.
As far as the median hourly wage for part-time workers, Alberta was behind BC and Québec, coming in third place.
| BC | $20.00 |
| QC | $19.45 |
| AB | $19.00 |
| ON | $18.50 |
| MB | $17.73 |
| PEI | $17.16 |
| NL | $17.00 |
| NS | $17.00 |
| SK | $17.00 |
| NB | $16.75 |
By industry, Alberta wages increased in 5 of the 16 reported sectors. They remained unchanged in 3, and decreased in all the rest.
| Mar 2024 | Apr 2024 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transportation and warehousing | $30.00 | $32.00 | $2.00 |
| Business, building and other support services | $22.00 | $24.00 | $2.00 |
| Educational services | $35.71 | $37.69 | $1.98 |
| Wholesale and retail trade | $20.00 | $21.72 | $1.72 |
| Public administration | $43.75 | $45.00 | $1.25 |
| Construction | $35.00 | $35.00 | $0.00 |
| Information, culture and recreation | $23.00 | $23.00 | $0.00 |
| Other services (except public administration) | $25.00 | $25.00 | $0.00 |
| Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas | $50.00 | $49.62 | -$0.38 |
| Accommodation and food services | $17.50 | $17.00 | -$0.50 |
| Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing | $34.87 | $33.52 | -$1.35 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | $39.90 | $38.46 | -$1.44 |
| Utilities | $53.13 | $51.53 | -$1.60 |
| Manufacturing | $34.00 | $32.00 | -$2.00 |
| Health care and social assistance | $31.25 | $29.00 | -$2.25 |
| Agriculture | $27.00 | $20.00 | -$7.00 |
Alberta saw its unemployment rate increase to 7.0% last month, up from 6.3% in March. This is the highest the unemployment rate has been since November 2021, during the early months of recovery from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alberta’s labour force also increased last month by 32,000, so, if you have 32,000 more people available to work than in March, but only 10,600 more people actually working, then it’s not surprising that the unemployment rate increased.
As far as how it compares with the rest of the country, Alberta’s unemployment rate was the second highest, behind just Newfoundland and Labrador, which was at 9.1%, down from 10.1% in March. Alberta was actually tied for second place with New Brunswick.
As far as change in unemployment rate, four provinces— Newfoundland and Labrador, PEI, Nova Scotia, and BC—saw decreases. Alberta had the second highest increase 91.1), too, behind just Ontario (1.7).
Canada saw an increase in employment last month, with jobs across the country rising by 90,400. As I pointed out earlier, Ontario saw the largest share of gained jobs (25,000), followed by BC (23,400), Québec (19,200), and Alberta (10,600).
The national unemployment rate remained at 6.1%, although it was up from 5.1% last April.
