The federal government released their December 2025 job numbers yesterday, and job numbers are down in Alberta.
The net decrease to jobs between last month and November was 13,700, nearly cutting November’s gain of 28,700 in half. In 2025, Alberta saw a net gain of 55,800 jobs.
Among workers 25 years of age and older, men saw the largest increase between November and December. There were 6,700 more men over 25 at work last month compared to November. Those numbers worsen to a loss of 7,700 if you include those who are 15–24 years old.
Women, however, saw an increase of just 200 in the number of those 25 years old and older finding new work compared to those working in November. When you add in the younger cohort, it drops to to a 6,000 decrease.
Statistics Canada provided no data on non-binary or intersex workers.
Here’s how Alberta’s job numbers compare to the other provinces:
| Nov 2025 | Dec 2025 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QC | 4,649,400 | 4,664,900 | 15,500 | 0.33% |
| ON | 8,260,400 | 8,273,100 | 12,700 | 0.15% |
| MB | 740,600 | 742,800 | 2,200 | 0.30% |
| PEI | 94,000 | 94,800 | 800 | 0.85% |
| NS | 523,600 | 523,900 | 300 | 0.06% |
| NL | 244,000 | 243,800 | -200 | -0.08% |
| NB | 409,700 | 407,400 | -2,300 | -0.56% |
| BC | 2,948,000 | 2,944,700 | -3,300 | -0.11% |
| SK | 621,200 | 617,200 | -4,000 | -0.64% |
| AB | 2,644,600 | 2,630,900 | -13,700 | -0.52% |
Alberta had the largest decrease in jobs among all the provinces, with 13,700 jobs lost, as I mentioned. Saskatchewan came in a distant second, with 4,000 lost jobs, followed by British Columbia at 3,300.
Québec had the largest increase, adding 15,500 jobs, followed by Ontario, at 12,700.
Only 5 industries in Alberta actually saw an increase in jobs in December. Of those, “health care and social assistance” had the highest gains: 13,000.
In fact, if it was not for these health care jobs, Alberta’s job loss last month would have been 26,700, rather than 13,700.
The 11 remaining sectors reported by Statistics Canada saw job losses, with the “accomodation and food services” sector losing the most, at 8,300 jobs:
| Accomodation and food services | -8,300 |
| Information, culture and recreation | -5,400 |
| Construction | -4,700 |
| Wholesale and retail trade | -3,400 |
| Educational services | -2,900 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | -2,500 |
| Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas | -1,700 |
| Transportation and warehousing | -1,700 |
| Utilities | -1,700 |
| Other services (except public administration) | -1,500 |
| Business, building and other support services | -200 |
Combined, these 11 industries lost 34,000 jobs.
Compared to a year ago, the industry with the highest job gains was “health care and social assistance”, increasing by over 25,900 jobs, a jump of 7.58%.
The “other services (except public administration)” sector saw the largest decrease over the last year, losing 11,100 jobs, which was about 10.14%.
| Dec 2024 | Dec 2025 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care & social assistance | 341,600 | 367,500 | 25,900 | 7.58% |
| Professional, scientific & technical services | 236,000 | 250,300 | 14,300 | 6.06% |
| Public administration | 123,400 | 137,300 | 13,900 | 11.26% |
| Educational services | 167,600 | 178,400 | 10,800 | 6.44% |
| Accommodation & food services | 151,800 | 159,600 | 7,800 | 5.14% |
| Utilities | 20,000 | 26,300 | 6,300 | 31.50% |
| Information, culture & recreation | 87,100 | 92,300 | 5,200 | 5.97% |
| Transportation & warehousing | 145,700 | 149,200 | 3,500 | 2.40% |
| Agriculture | 35,600 | 38,500 | 2,900 | 8.15% |
| Finance, insurance, real estate, rental & leasing | 141,100 | 143,900 | 2,800 | 1.98% |
| Business, building & other support services | 82,900 | 85,400 | 2,500 | 3.02% |
| Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil & gas | 146,600 | 143,500 | -3,100 | -2.11% |
| Manufacturing | 158,900 | 153,000 | -5,900 | -3.71% |
| Wholesale & retail trade | 366,900 | 358,500 | -8,400 | -2.29% |
| Construction | 258,000 | 248,800 | -9,200 | -3.57% |
| Other services (except public administration) | 109,500 | 98,400 | -11,100 | -10.14% |
The report from Statistics Canada also shows that Alberta’s private sector shrunk by 4,500 between November and December. There were 46,100 more private-sector jobs as there were this time last year, however.
In comparison, public sector jobs were down by 4,100 over November, and Alberta had 19,000 more public sector workers compared to December 2024.
Self employed jobs were down by 5,000 over November and down by 6,800 over December 2024.
Part-time jobs shrunk last month. Alberta lost 8,800 part-time jobs (seasonally adjusted) between November and December.
In contrast, Alberta lost 4,800 full-time jobs during the same period. Over the course of the entire year in 2025, we have had a net gain of 34,900 full-time jobs.
These full-time losses last month were mostly women workers (10,700), with 5,900 more men working full-time. It was the other way around for part-time jobs: a gain for women (4,800) and a loss for men (-13,600).
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 2,155,300. That means that there are 268,600 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 81.92%, meaning that in the 6.5 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 not increased.
In fact, there were only 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. And only once in 2024 (July) did it pass the mark. June and August were the only months in 2025 that it rose above 82.5%.
Speaking of full-time jobs, median wages for full-time workers in Alberta increased to $35.70 an hour last month, up from $35 in November.
Part-time hourly wages remained at $20.00, where it was in November, the highest it has been since June.
The median hourly wage for both full-time and part-time jobs grew slightly to $32.14 last month, up from $32.00 in September and October. This is 86¢ behind British Columbia and 14¢ ahead of Ontario, putting Alberta in second place.
Alberta had the second highest median full-time hourly wage in December 2025, 20¢ behind BC and 70¢ ahead of Ontario.
| BC | $35.90 |
| AB | $35.70 |
| ON | $35.00 |
| QC | $34.00 |
| SK | $32.00 |
| NL | $31.31 |
| NS | $31.00 |
| NB | $30.00 |
| PEI | $29.47 |
| MB | $29.23 |
Alberta had the third largest increase in median hourly wages for full-time wages over the past 12 months.
| Dec 2024 | Dec 2025 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| NS | $28.85 | $31.00 | $2.15 |
| QC | $32.21 | $34.00 | $1.79 |
| AB | $34.00 | $35.70 | $1.70 |
| BC | $35.00 | $35.90 | $0.90 |
| NB | $29.23 | $30.00 | $0.77 |
| ON | $34.28 | $35.00 | $0.72 |
| PEI | $28.85 | $29.47 | $0.62 |
| MB | $28.85 | $29.23 | $0.38 |
| NL | $31.00 | $31.31 | $0.31 |
| SK | $32.00 | $32.00 | $0.00 |
For part-time workers, Alberta was tied with Québec for the second-highest median hourly wage last month.
| BC | $22.40 |
| AB | $20.00 |
| QC | $20.00 |
| ON | $19.55 |
| MB | $19.25 |
| NS | $18.75 |
| SK | $18.32 |
| NL | $18.25 |
| NB | $18.00 |
| PEI | $18.00 |
Alberta had the smallest increase in median hourly wage, if you do not include PEI and Québec—which had no increase—and Saskatchewan—which saw a decrease.
| NS | $17.30 | $18.75 | $1.45 |
| MB | $18.00 | $19.25 | $1.25 |
| NL | $17.25 | $18.25 | $1.00 |
| NB | $17.00 | $18.00 | $1.00 |
| ON | $19.00 | $19.55 | $0.55 |
| BC | $22.00 | $22.40 | $0.40 |
| AB | $19.64 | $20.00 | $0.36 |
| PEI | $18.00 | $18.00 | $0.00 |
| QC | $20.00 | $20.00 | $0.00 |
| SK | $19.00 | $18.32 | -$0.68 |
By industry, Alberta wages increased in 8 of the 16 reported sectors. They remained unchanged in 2 and decreased in the other 6.
| Nov 2025 | Dec 2025 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil & gas | $52.00 | $54.56 | $2.56 |
| Information, culture & recreation | $24.04 | $25.00 | $0.96 |
| Professional, scientific & technical services | $40.87 | $41.81 | $0.94 |
| Manufacturing | $30.00 | $30.77 | $0.77 |
| Health care & social assistance | $29.33 | $30.00 | $0.67 |
| Business, building & other support services | $24.50 | $25.00 | $0.50 |
| Educational services | $36.06 | $36.54 | $0.48 |
| Public administration | $46.15 | $46.34 | $0.19 |
| Construction | $37.00 | $37.00 | $0.00 |
| Wholesale & retail trade | $23.00 | $23.00 | $0.00 |
| Accommodation & food services | $17.05 | $17.00 | -$0.05 |
| Transportation & warehousing | $35.00 | $34.80 | -$0.20 |
| Other services (except public administration) | $27.47 | $26.92 | -$0.55 |
| Utilities | $57.69 | $56.00 | -$1.69 |
| Finance, insurance, real estate, rental & leasing | $37.98 | $36.00 | -$1.98 |
| Agriculture | $38.00 | $27.00 | -$11.00 |
Alberta saw its unemployment rate grew from 6.5% in November to just 6.8% in December. In December 2024, it was 6.7%.
Alberta’s labour force decreased last month, by 6,300. With having 13,700 fewer people actually working and 6,300 fewer people available to work than in November, it makes sense that our unemployment rate increased. In fact, had the labour force not shrunk, the unemployment rate would have been even higher.
As far as how it compares with the rest of the country, Alberta’s unemployment rate was the fourth highest, behind Newfoundland and Labrador (10.7%), PEI (7.3%), and Ontario (7.9%).
In November, Alberta had the sixth highest unemployment rate.
Of the 4 provinces that saw their unemployment rates increase last month, Alberta was tied with Newfoundland and Labrador and Québec for having the lowest increase.
Canada saw an increase in employment last month, with jobs across the country rising by 8,200. Those gains were driven primarily by Québec (15,500) and Ontario (12,700).
The national unemployment rate rose to 6.8%, as well.
Alberta’s youth (15–24) unemployment rate was the 4th highest in the country, up from 6th highest in November.
| NL | 19.1 |
| ON | 15.6 |
| SK | 15.0 |
| AB | 14.5 |
| NB | 13.6 |
| BC | 12.7 |
| NS | 12.4 |
| PEI | 11.9 |
| MB | 11.6 |
| QC | 8.9 |
Of the 6 provinces who saw their youth unemployment increase since November, we had the third largest increase.
| Nov 2025 | Dec 2025 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| QC | 7.4 | 8.9 | 1.5 |
| SK | 13.7 | 15.0 | 1.3 |
| AB | 13.5 | 14.5 | 1.0 |
| PEI | 11.2 | 11.9 | 0.7 |
| ON | 15.3 | 15.6 | 0.3 |
| BC | 12.5 | 12.7 | 0.2 |
| NL | 19.8 | 19.1 | -0.7 |
| MB | 12.3 | 11.6 | -0.7 |
| NB | 14.6 | 13.6 | -1.0 |
| NS | 13.9 | 12.4 | -1.5 |
Over the last year, however, we had the fifth largest increase in our youth unemployment rate.
| Dec 2024 | Dec 2025 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| NL | 16.3 | 19.1 | 2.8 |
| NS | 9.9 | 12.4 | 2.5 |
| PEI | 10.0 | 11.9 | 1.9 |
| SK | 13.7 | 15.0 | 1.3 |
| AB | 13.8 | 14.5 | 0.7 |
| NB | 13.5 | 13.6 | 0.1 |
| QC | 8.9 | 8.9 | 0.0 |
| BC | 12.7 | 12.7 | 0.0 |
| MB | 12.3 | 11.6 | -0.7 |
| ON | 18.0 | 15.6 | -2.4 |
