Alberta lost 40,000 payroll workers since UCP elected

Late last month, Statistics Canada released data on employment and average weekly earnings for February 2021. Naturally, I thought I’d go through it and see how Alberta compares to other provinces.

Here is how many workers there were in each province who were on payroll as of February 2022.

ON	6,541,239
QC	3,845,726
BC	2,361,980
AB	1,953,417
MB	609,019
SK	484,895
NS	423,294
NB	333,039
NL	209,830
PEI	71,721

Unsurprisingly, Alberta had the fourth largest number of payroll workers. It’s unsurprising because Alberta has the fourth largest population overall.

Now, let’s look at how it’s changed over time.

First, here’s how it changed since the start of the year:

	Jan 2022	Feb 2022	Change	% change
NB	329,173	333,039	3,866	1.17%
QC	3,807,520	3,845,726	38,206	1.00%
ON	6,481,161	6,541,239	60,078	0.93%
NS	419,462	423,294	3,832	0.91%
BC	2,341,137	2,361,980	20,843	0.89%
PEI	71,090	71,721	631	0.89%
NL	208,196	209,830	1,634	0.78%
AB	1,939,950	1,953,417	13,467	0.69%
MB	605,631	609,019	3,388	0.56%
SK	484,216	484,895	679	0.14%

In terms of absolute numbers, Alberta once again was in fourth place. However, when we look at how much it has changed relative to January’s numbers, we see that we drop to 3 from the bottom, having increased just 0.69%. Only Manitoba and Saskatchewan had lower relative increases.

	Feb 2021	Feb 2022	Change	% change
ON	6,008,053	6,541,239	533,186	8.87%
QC	3,551,733	3,845,726	293,993	8.28%
BC	2,186,678	2,361,980	175,302	8.02%
AB	1,808,737	1,953,417	144,680	8.00%
MB	573,689	609,019	35,330	6.16%
PEI	67,889	71,721	3,832	5.64%
SK	459,555	484,895	25,340	5.51%
NB	318,845	333,039	14,194	4.45%
NL	202,668	209,830	7,162	3.53%
NS	408,989	423,294	14,305	3.50%

When we switch to the last year, Alberta is back in fourth place, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage growth relative to last February.

However, the numbers are far less impressive when we look at data from February 2019, just before the UCP won the provincial election.

	Feb 2019	Feb 2022	Change	% change
PEI	67,484	71,721	4,237	6.28%
NB	318,283	333,039	14,756	4.64%
QC	3,706,214	3,845,726	139,512	3.76%
BC	2,276,968	2,361,980	85,012	3.73%
NS	412,044	423,294	11,250	2.73%
SK	474,974	484,895	9,921	2.09%
ON	6,474,532	6,541,239	66,707	1.03%
MB	603,209	609,019	5,810	0.96%
NL	212,317	209,830	-2,487	-1.17%
AB	1,994,167	1,953,417	-40,750	-2.04%

Over the last 3 years, Alberta has seen the worst performance of all the provinces, losing over 40,000 payroll employees during that period, over 2% of its workforce.

Only one other province saw a decline in payroll employees during that time: Newfoundland and Labrador, which lost roughly 2,500 payroll employees, or 1.17% of its workforce.

Now you might be thinking, “Yeah, but we’re coming out of a pandemic-fuelled recession.” That’s true. But then so is every other province.

And our job losses were occurring even before the pandemic shut everything down in March 2020.

Here, take a look.

Between March and July, the number of payroll employees in Alberta increased from 1,991,983 to 2,005,393. However, starting in August, that number kept dropping, and by February 2020, just one month before the government introduced public health protections that shut down the economy, we had lost over 27,000 jobs. Compared to the previous February, we were short nearly 16,000 jobs.

And then the pandemic hit, and we lost even more. Some of those jobs have returned, but we’re still missing over 40,000 of them. Or at least we were as of February 2022.

Now on to wages.

AB	$1,244.49
ON	$1,190.96
BC	$1,160.43
NL	$1,132.05
SK	$1,122.58
QC	$1,104.80
MB	$1,047.59
NB	$1,040.04
NS	$1,006.34
PEI	$962.48

According to the data, Alberta had the highest average weekly wages (including overtime) among all 10 provinces.

Average weekly earnings are derived by dividing total weekly earnings for the month by the total number of employees in the province.

Given that Alberta has the highest median wage in the country, it shouldn’t be that surprising that it also had the highest average weekly earnings.

Now let’s compare those earnings to previous periods.

	Jan 2022	Feb 2022	Change
NL	$1,114.98	$1,132.05	$17.07
MB	$1,039.22	$1,047.59	$8.37
NB	$1,032.43	$1,040.04	$7.61
QC	$1,097.20	$1,104.80	$7.60
ON	$1,187.64	$1,190.96	$3.32
BC	$1,157.19	$1,160.43	$3.24
NS	$1,004.29	$1,006.34	$2.05
PEI	$963.04	$962.48	-$0.56
AB	$1,247.75	$1,244.49	-$3.26
SK	$1,138.71	$1,122.58	-$16.13

Here, we see that Alberta was one of only three provinces that saw average weekly wages drop from the previous month. Alberta had the second highest decrease, after Saskatchewan, where payroll workers lost over $16 a week.

	Feb 2021	Feb 2022	Change
NL	$1,075.36	$1,132.05	$56.69
BC	$1,114.21	$1,160.43	$46.22
NS	$963.59	$1,006.34	$42.75
QC	$1,067.84	$1,104.80	$36.96
PEI	$928.01	$962.48	$34.47
NB	$1,006.62	$1,040.04	$33.42
SK	$1,091.76	$1,122.58	$30.82
MB	$1,022.46	$1,047.59	$25.13
AB	$1,232.23	$1,244.49	$12.26
ON	$1,182.53	$1,190.96	$8.43

While Alberta did see an increase between February 2021 and February 2022, every province did, and Alberta’s increase was the second smallest of all the provinces.

Newfoundland and Labrador saw the largest gains in average weekly wages, with payroll workers there gaining nearly $60 more a week.

	Feb 2019	Feb 2021	Change
BC	$974.12	$1,160.43	$186.31
ON	$1,031.52	$1,190.96	$159.44
QC	$947.75	$1,104.80	$157.05
NS	$885.48	$1,006.34	$120.86
NB	$920.55	$1,040.04	$119.49
PEI	$848.97	$962.48	$113.51
AB	$1,137.08	$1,244.49	$107.41
MB	$950.61	$1,047.59	$96.98
SK	$1,025.68	$1,122.58	$96.90
NL	$1,036.49	$1,132.05	$95.56

When we look at average weekly wages for payroll workers over a 3-year period, we notice that Alberta does a bit better, bumping up to 4th last, instead of 2nd last.

So, while Alberta payroll workers are making more than they were 3 years ago, the amount their weekly wages increased by was outdone by 6 other provinces.