The federal government released their March 2024 job numbers last week, and job numbers are down in Alberta.
The net decrease to jobs between last month and February was 300.
Among workers 25 years of age and older, women workers saw the larger job decreases between February and March. There were 600 fewer women over 25 at work last month compared to February. That number shrinks to 200, however, if you include those who are 15–24 years old.
On the other hand, 200 more men over 25 were employed in March over the previous month—but that changes to a loss of 300 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:
| Feb 2024 | Mar 2024 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ON | 60,600 | 60,700 | 100 | 0.17% |
| NL | 53,000 | 53,000 | 0 | 0.00% |
| BC | 61,700 | 61,700 | 0 | 0.00% |
| PEI | 62,000 | 61,800 | -200 | -0.32% |
| NS | 58,800 | 58,500 | -300 | -0.51% |
| QC | 61,600 | 61,300 | -300 | -0.49% |
| AB | 65,500 | 65,200 | -300 | -0.46% |
| NB | 56,400 | 56,000 | -400 | -0.71% |
| MB | 63,400 | 62,900 | -500 | -0.79% |
| SK | 64,100 | 63,300 | -800 | -1.25% |
Ontario saw the largest increase in jobs among all the provinces. In fact, they were the only province to see an increase in jobs. And it was only 100 jobs at that.
Newfoundland and Labrador joined British Columbia as the only two provinces to see no change in the number of people employed between February and March.
Of the 7 provinces who saw job losses last month, Alberta was tied with Nova Scotia and Québec for having lost 300 jobs, the second smallest number of lost jobs.
Saskatchewan saw the largest decrease in new jobs, in absolute numbers and percentage, with 800 fewer people working last month than in January.
Alberta also had the second smallest percentage of lob losses.
And even though Alberta had a net loss of 300 jobs last month, most industries in the province actually saw an increase in jobs. Of the 10 sectors where jobs increased in March, “health care and social assistance” had the highest gains: 12,400.
Of 6 remaining sectors reported by Statistics Canada, all of them saw job losses in Alberta:
| Wholesale and retail trade | -21,600 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | -5,400 |
| Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing | -3,500 |
| Transportation and warehousing | -2,700 |
| Business, building and other support services | -2,600 |
| Educational services | -400 |
Combined, these 7 industries lost 36,200 jobs, 60% of which came from just the “wholesale and retail trade” sector. In fact, that sector lost more jobs than the top 3 performing sectors gained, combined.
Compared to a year ago, the industry with the highest job gains was “construction”. “Professional, scientific and technical services” saw the largest decrease over the last year.
| Mar 2023 | Mar 2024 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | 234,000 | 253,300 | 19,300 | 8.25% |
| Health care and social assistance | 319,700 | 335,500 | 15,800 | 4.94% |
| Accommodation and food services | 124,500 | 139,400 | 14,900 | 11.97% |
| Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas | 132,800 | 146,400 | 13,600 | 10.24% |
| Other services (except public administration) | 94,000 | 107,000 | 13,000 | 13.83% |
| Public administration | 111,600 | 123,900 | 12,300 | 11.02% |
| Business, building and other support services | 78,400 | 84,500 | 6,100 | 7.78% |
| Information, culture and recreation | 79,700 | 85,600 | 5,900 | 7.40% |
| Manufacturing | 142,600 | 148,000 | 5,400 | 3.79% |
| Utilities | 20,200 | 24,800 | 4,600 | 22.77% |
| Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing | 131,300 | 132,100 | 800 | 0.61% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 152,500 | 152,200 | -300 | -0.20% |
| Educational services | 165,100 | 162,800 | -2,300 | -1.39% |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 360,500 | 357,100 | -3,400 | -0.94% |
| Agriculture | 46,300 | 39,900 | -6,400 | -13.82% |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 250,900 | 234,400 | -16,500 | -6.58% |
The report from Statistics Canada also shows that Alberta’s private sector grew by 14,800 between February and March; however, there were 90,100 more private-sector jobs than this time last year. Public sector jobs were down by 7,100 over February but higher than March 2023 by 20,700. Self employed jobs were down by 11,000 over February but down by 28,000 over March 2023.
Full-time jobs made up all of the job gains last month. Alberta lost 1,500 part-time jobs (seasonally adjusted) between February and March, but they gained 400 full-time jobs.
There were 5,000 men full-time workers who gained jobs last month. By comparison, the number of women who worked full-time decreased by 4,700 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 2,071,100. That means that there are 184,400 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 81.96%, 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 decreased by 57¢, from a median of $33.57 an hour in February.
Part-time wages, on the other hand, remained unchanged at $19.00 per hour, where it’s been for 4 out of the last 5 months. The median wage for both full-time and part-time jobs combined remained at $30.00, where it has been since last September.
Alberta had the third highest median full-time hourly wage in February 2024, behind Ontario and British Columbia.
| BC | $33.65 |
| ON | $33.33 |
| AB | $33.00 |
| QC | $32.00 |
| SK | $31.25 |
| NL | $29.75 |
| NS | $28.00 |
| MB | $28.00 |
| PEI | $27.50 |
| NB | $27.18 |
This marks 7 months in a row that Alberta hasn’t 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 Ontario once again.
| QC | $20.00 |
| BC | $20.00 |
| AB | $19.00 |
| ON | $18.75 |
| PEI | $18.00 |
| MB | $17.50 |
| SK | $17.09 |
| NL | $17.00 |
| NS | $17.00 |
| NB | $17.00 |
By industry, Alberta wages increased in 10 of the 16 reported sectors.
| Feb 2024 | Mar 2024 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | $30.00 | $34.00 | $4.00 |
| Utilities | $49.45 | $53.13 | $3.68 |
| Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing | $32.00 | $34.87 | $2.87 |
| Agriculture | $26.00 | $27.00 | $1.00 |
| Information, culture and recreation | $22.50 | $23.00 | $0.50 |
| Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas | $50.00 | $50.00 | $0.00 |
| Wholesale and retail trade | $20.00 | $20.00 | $0.00 |
| Transportation and warehousing | $30.00 | $30.00 | $0.00 |
| Health care and social assistance | $31.25 | $31.25 | $0.00 |
| Other services (except public administration) | $25.00 | $25.00 | $0.00 |
| Educational services | $36.00 | $35.71 | -$0.29 |
| Accommodation and food services | $18.00 | $17.50 | -$0.50 |
| Public administration | $45.00 | $43.75 | -$1.25 |
| Construction | $36.92 | $35.00 | -$1.92 |
| Business, building and other support services | $24.00 | $22.00 | -$2.00 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | $43.27 | $39.90 | -$3.37 |
Alberta saw its unemployment rate increase to 6.3% last month, up from 6.2% in January and February and right where it was back in December.
Alberta’s labour force also decreased last month by 800, so, if you have 800 fewer people available to work than in February, but 3,200 fewer 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 fifth highest. Alberta’s unemployment rate was lower than just 4 other provinces: Newfoundland and Labrador (10.1%), New Brunswick (7.8%), Prince Edward Island (7.4%), and Ontario (6.7%).
As far as change in unemployment rate, only Newfoundland and Labrador saw a decrease.
That being said, Alberta’s unemployment rate in March 2023 was 5.7%, which means that with all the ups and downs in its unemployment rate over the last year, the percentage of the labour force in Alberta that remains without a job has actually increased.
To be fair, most provinces had a higher unemployment rate last month than they had the year before. Newfoundland and Labrador was the only one that saw a decrease.
Canada saw an decrease in employment last month, with jobs across the country dropping by 2,200. Québec saw the largest share of lost jobs (18,000), followed by Saskatchewan (6,000), Manitoba (4,300), and Alberta (3,200).
The national unemployment rate rose to 6.1%, up from 5.8% in February and 5.1% last March.
One reply on “AB lost 22K wholesale & retail jobs in Mar 2023”
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