AB only province in Canada to lose payroll employees

Yesterday, Statistics Canada released updated data on employment and average weekly earnings for each of the provinces. The new seasonally adjusted data was as of May 2022.

I figured I’d take a look to see how the job situation looks in Alberta.

This data is different from the labour force data I reported on for May, in that this specifically reports on workers who are on payroll.

ON	6,600,687
QC	3,892,945
BC	2,382,597
AB	1,982,021
MB	606,016
SK	487,026
NS	430,310
NB	337,029
NL	214,661
PEI	73,584

Unsurprisingly, Alberta had the fourth largest number of payroll employees in Canada. After all, they do have the fourth largest population in general.

In May 2022, there were 1,982,021 payroll employees working in Alberta. The month before, that number was 1,985,468. That’s a 3,447 decrease, the second largest decrease in the country.

	Apr 2022	May 2022	Change	% change
BC	2,377,541	2,382,597	5,056	0.21%
NL	213,579	214,661	1,082	0.51%
SK	486,234	487,026	792	0.16%
PEI	73,040	73,584	544	0.74%
NS	429,874	430,310	436	0.10%
NB	337,035	337,029	-6	0.00%
MB	609,034	606,016	-3,018	-0.50%
QC	3,896,048	3,892,945	-3,103	-0.08%
AB	1,985,468	1,982,021	-3,447	-0.17%
ON	6,633,660	6,600,687	-32,973	-0.50%

When we look at the increase as a percentage of April’s job numbers, we see that Alberta still had the second largest decrease; although Ontario and Manitoba were tied for the largest.

However, Alberta had the fourth largest increase when we compare to May 2021, a year earlier and a year after the province first introduced public health protections related to the pandemic.

	May 2021	May 2022	Change	% change
ON	6,006,139	6,600,687	594,548	9.90%
QC	3,638,334	3,892,945	254,611	7.00%
BC	2,193,211	2,382,597	189,386	8.64%
AB	1,831,549	1,982,021	150,472	8.22%
NS	401,652	430,310	28,658	7.14%
MB	581,114	606,016	24,902	4.29%
SK	463,231	487,026	23,795	5.14%
NB	321,623	337,029	15,406	4.79%
PEI	67,982	73,584	5,602	8.24%
NL	209,208	214,661	5,453	2.61%

As I said at the outset, this shouldn’t be that surprising, given that we have the fourth largest population in general. Alberta is also in fourth place in terms of percentage change over the last year.

However, things start to look less rosy the further we go back.

For example, check out what job numbers look like when we compare May 2022 to May 2020, two months into the pandemic.

	May 2020	May 2022	Change	% change
ON	6,006,139	6,600,687	1,409,453	27.15%
QC	3,638,334	3,892,945	838,591	27.46%
BC	2,193,211	2,382,597	524,480	28.23%
AB	1,831,549	1,982,021	392,094	24.66%
MB	581,114	606,016	104,455	20.83%
SK	463,231	487,026	86,351	21.55%
NS	401,652	430,310	85,739	24.88%
NB	321,623	337,029	62,647	22.83%
NL	209,208	214,661	42,650	24.79%
PEI	67,982	73,584	16,914	29.85%

Alberta has seen the fourth largest increase in total jobs over the last two years, but relative to the number of jobs they had in March 2022, Alberta has seen the fourth worst growth in the country.

And look how bad things are if we go 3 years out, to May 2019, which was the month after the UCP were elected.

	May 2019	May 2022	Change	% change
QC	3,727,544	3,892,945	165,401	4.44%
ON	6,487,610	6,600,687	113,077	1.74%
BC	2,276,701	2,382,597	105,896	4.65%
NB	320,489	337,029	16,540	5.16%
NS	414,547	430,310	15,763	3.80%
SK	476,213	487,026	10,813	2.27%
PEI	67,110	73,584	6,474	9.65%
NL	210,476	214,661	4,185	1.99%
MB	604,556	606,016	1,460	0.24%
AB	1,995,822	1,982,021	-13,801	-0.69%

Alberta has seen the worst job creation record of all 10 Canadian provinces, with nearly 14,000 fewer payroll employees than we had 3 years ago.

No other province saw such a large drop, in total numbers or in percentages.

In fact, we were the only province that saw fewer payroll employees now than we had 3 years ago.

Québec saw an increase in over 165 payroll employees during the same period. BC and Ontario both passed the 100,000 mark. And PEI grew their number of payroll employees by nearly 10%.

Here’s how the jobs in Alberta have changed over the last 3 years, by industry.

	May 2019	May 2022	Change	% change
Accommodation and food services	165,887	155,857	-10,030	-6.05%
Educational services	159,154	150,205	-8,949	-5.62%
Other services (except public administration)	76,900	71,632	-5,268	-6.85%
Real estate and rental and leasing	42,292	37,342	-4,950	-11.70%
Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services	95,320	90,605	-4,715	-4.95%
Management of companies and enterprises	21,450	17,883	-3,567	-16.63%
Public administration	112,014	108,805	-3,209	-2.86%
Manufacturing	124,111	121,164	-2,947	-2.37%
Arts, entertainment and recreation	42,122	39,986	-2,136	-5.07%
Information and cultural industries	27,594	26,070	-1,524	-5.52%
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction	98,119	96,596	-1,523	-1.55%
Trade	342,817	341,929	-888	-0.26%
Forestry, logging and support	3,223	3,351	128	3.97%
Utilities	13,703	15,633	1,930	14.08%
Transportation and warehousing	104,226	107,801	3,575	3.43%
Finance and insurance	62,788	67,960	5,172	8.24%
Construction	171,560	177,092	5,532	3.22%
Professional, scientific and technical services	118,623	127,567	8,944	7.54%
Health care and social assistance	218,482	230,091	11,609	5.31%

Only 7 industries have seen a net increase in payroll employees over the last 3 years. The other 12 all saw losses, the largest of which was in the hospitality sector, which lost over 10,000 payroll employees.

And that’s despite having one of the lowest job vacancy rates in the country.

The job vacancy rate is the number of job vacancies expressed as a percentage of labour demand.

PEI	7.8
QC	6.4
BC	6.4
NB	5.8
ON	5.4
NS	5.2
MB	5.2
AB	5.2
SK	5.1
NL	4.9

And, as you can see from the above table, Alberta had the third lowest job vacancy rate in Canada this past May.

You’d think that a province with such a low vacancy rate wouldn’t have so many jobs still missing.

In fact, according to Statistics Canada, Alberta still has 106,630 payroll employee vacancies. Seems weird that we still have over 27,000 fewer people working than we did 3 years ago.