Alberta gained 15,000 jobs last month

The federal government released their April 2025 job numbers yesterday, and job numbers are up in Alberta.

The net increase to jobs between last month and March was 15,000. The month before, we lost 15,400, so this doesn’t even break even. On top of that, Alberta lost 22,000 in the first 3 months of 2025, so we’re basically still 7,000 jobs short of where we finished 2024.

Among workers 25 years of age and older, men saw the largest decrease between March and April. There were 11,900 more men over 25 at work last month compared to March. Those numbers drop to a gain of only 4,400 if you include those who are 15–24 years old.

Women, however, saw an increase of 3,300 in those 25 years old and older finding new work compared to those working in March. When you add in the younger cohort, it rises significantly to a 10,600 increase.

Statistics Canada provided no data on non-binary or intersex workers.

Here’s how Alberta’s job numbers compare to the other provinces:

	Mar 2025	Apr 2025	Change	% change
QC	4,627,300	4,645,600	18,300	0.40%
AB	2,550,800	2,565,800	15,000	0.59%
BC	2,944,900	2,950,900	6,000	0.20%
MB	730,900	736,600	5,700	0.78%
NL	244,300	248,100	3,800	1.56%
SK	613,500	616,000	2,500	0.41%
PEI	93,900	94,300	400	0.43%
NB	401,600	400,400	-1,200	-0.30%
NS	524,900	516,400	-8,500	-1.62%
ON	8,229,800	8,195,200	-34,600	-0.42%

Québecc saw the single largest increase in jobs among all the provinces, with 18,300 jobs added. Alberta came in at a close second, with more than twice as many new jobs as those seen in British Columbia, which was in third place.

Ontario had the largest decrease, losing nearly 35,000 jobs.

On a percentage basis, Alberta had the second largest gain, behind only Newfoundland and Labrador.

11 industries in Alberta actually saw an increase in jobs in April. Of those, manufacturing had the highest gains: 5,600.

The 5 remaining sectors reported by Statistics Canada saw job losses, with the “professional, scientific and technical services” sector losing the most, at 7,300 jobs:

Professional, scientific and technical services	-7,300
Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas	-6,100
Wholesale and retail trade	-3,300
Agriculture	-1,500
Transportation and warehousing	-100

Combined, these 5 industries lost 18,300 jobs.

Compared to a year ago, the industry with the highest job gains was “construction”, increasing by over 20,000 jobs, a jump of over 8%.

The “forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas” sector saw the largest decrease over the last year, losing 13,700 jobs, which was about 9%.

	Apr 2024	Apr 2025	Change	% change
Construction	253,800	274,400	20,600	8.12%
Wholesale & retail trade	341,300	358,300	17,000	4.98%
Finance, insurance, real estate, rental & leasing	128,200	144,900	16,700	13.03%
Public administration	122,000	132,500	10,500	8.61%
Accommodation & food services	143,000	151,500	8,500	5.94%
Transportation & warehousing	145,900	153,200	7,300	5.00%
Educational services	165,500	172,400	6,900	4.17%
Health care & social assistance	324,400	330,500	6,100	1.88%
Information, culture & recreation	85,800	89,400	3,600	4.20%
Professional, scientific & technical services	237,400	238,000	600	0.25%
Agriculture	37,500	34,900	-2,600	-6.93%
Utilities	23,400	19,800	-3,600	-15.38%
Business, building & other support services	86,600	79,800	-6,800	-7.85%
Manufacturing	152,200	144,600	-7,600	-4.99%
Other services (except public administration)	113,000	100,900	-12,100	-10.71%
Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil & gas	154,600	140,900	-13,700	-8.86%

The report from Statistics Canada also shows that Alberta’s private sector grew by 16,400 between March and April, which was short of making up for the 28,200 private sector jobs lost the month before. However, there were 21,800 more private-sector jobs than this time last year.

In contrast, public sector jobs were up by just 400 over March, and Alberta had 24,600 more public sector workers compared to April 2024.

Self employed jobs were down by 1,700 over March and up by 4,900 over April 2024.

Part-time jobs grew last month. Alberta gained 900 part-time jobs (seasonally adjusted) between March and April.

In contrast, Alberta gained 14,100 full-time jobs during the same period, but that was far shy of making up for the 30,300 full-time jobs lost in March. So far, in 2025, we’ve lost 21,700 full-time jobs.

These full-time losses gains mostly women workers (8,600), with a still substantial 5,500 more women working full-time. The part-time jobs were a loss for men (-1,200) and gain for women (1,900).

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 2,098,700. That means that there are 212,000 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 81.79%, meaning that in the nearly 6 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 shrunk.

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.

Speaking of full-time jobs, median wages for full-time workers in Alberta remained the same, compared to March, at $34.62. This is also where full-time wages sat at in October, November, January, and February.

Part-time wages, however, decreased 35¢ from $20.00.

The median wage for both full-time and part-time jobs fell from $32.00 in March to $31.81 last month.

Alberta had the second highest median full-time hourly wage in April 2025, 76¢ behind British Columbia and just 25¢ ahead of Ontario.

BC	$35.38
AB	$34.62
ON	$34.37
QC	$33.00
SK	$31.51
NL	$30.00
NS	$30.00
NB	$29.12
MB	$28.50
PEI	$27.00

Alberta had the 6th smallest increase in median hourly wages for full-time wages over the past 12 months, down from fifth place in March and fourth place in February.

	Apr 2024	Apr 2025	Change
NB	$27.10	$29.12	$2.02
BC	$33.65	$35.38	$1.73
ON	$33.00	$34.37	$1.37
NS	$28.70	$30.00	$1.30
QC	$32.00	$33.00	$1.00
AB	$33.65	$34.62	$0.97
NL	$29.47	$30.00	$0.53
MB	$28.00	$28.50	$0.50
SK	$31.50	$31.51	$0.01
PEI	$27.00	$27.00	$0.00

For part-time workers, Alberta had the third highest median hourly wage.

BC	$22.14
QC	$20.00
AB	$19.65
PEI	$19.00
ON	$19.00
MB	$18.80
NL	$18.00
NS	$18.00
NB	$18.00
SK	$18.00

Alberta drops to 8th place—or 3rd last place—when we look at median hourly part-time wages over the last year.

	Apr 2024	Apr 2025	Change
BC	$20.50	$22.14	$1.64
PEI	$17.39	$19.00	$1.61
MB	$17.73	$18.80	$1.07
NL	$17.00	$18.00	$1.00
NS	$17.00	$18.00	$1.00
NB	$17.00	$18.00	$1.00
SK	$17.00	$18.00	$1.00
AB	$19.00	$19.65	$0.65
QC	$19.45	$20.00	$0.55
ON	$18.50	$19.00	$0.50

By industry, Alberta wages increased in 10 of the 16 reported sectors. They decreased in 4 others and remained unchanged in the other 2.

	Apr 2024	Apr 2025	Change
Agriculture	$20.00	$26.00	$6.00
Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing	$33.52	$36.62	$3.10
Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas	$50.00	$52.40	$2.40
Utilities	$51.53	$53.85	$2.32
Information, culture and recreation	$23.00	$25.00	$2.00
Professional, scientific and technical services	$38.46	$40.00	$1.54
Construction	$35.00	$36.06	$1.06
Health care and social assistance	$29.00	$30.00	$1.00
Wholesale and retail trade	$21.72	$22.50	$0.78
Transportation and warehousing	$31.80	$32.20	$0.40
Accommodation and food services	$17.00	$17.00	$0.00
Other services (except public administration)	$25.00	$25.00	$0.00
Business, building and other support services	$23.90	$23.00	-$0.90
Manufacturing	$32.00	$31.00	-$1.00
Public administration	$45.00	$42.91	-$2.09
Educational services	$38.00	$34.69	-$3.31

Alberta saw its unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.1%, still up from the 6.7% it had been at in December and the first 2 months of 2025.

Alberta’s labour force increased last month, by 15,200. With having 15,000 more people actually working but 15,200 more people available to work than in March, it makes sense that our unemployment stayed the same.

As far as how it compares with the rest of the country, Alberta’s unemployment rate was the fourth highest, behind Newfoundland and Labrador, which was at 9.6%; Ontario, which was at 7.8%; and Nova Scotia, which was at 7.2%.

Alberta was one of only 4 provinces that saw its unemployment rate increase, and its increase was the largest.

Canada saw an increase in employment last month, with jobs across the country rising by 7,400. Those gains were driven primarily by Québec (18,300) and Alberta (15,000).

The national unemployment rate increased to 6.7%. That’s up slightly from 6.7% in march.