Alberta lost nearly 40,000 FT jobs in July 2025

The federal government released their July 2025 job numbers yesterday, and job numbers are down in Alberta.

The net decrease to jobs between last month and June was 16,800, cutting June’s increase of 30,000 by more than half. Since the start of 2025, Alberta has seen a net gain of just 4,800 jobs.

Among workers 25 years of age and older, men saw the largest decrease between June and July. There were 8,200 fewer men over 25 at work last month compared to June. Those numbers slide even more to 17,300 if you include those who are 15–24 years old.

Women, however, saw an increase of 1,000 in those 25 years old and older finding new work compared to those working in June. When you add in the younger cohort, it drop to to only an 500 increase.

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

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

	Jun 2025	Jul 2025	Change	% change
SK	619,900	623,400	3,500	0.56%
MB	739,300	741,400	2,100	0.28%
NS	523,600	525,400	1,800	0.34%
NL	245,000	246,100	1,100	0.45%
PEI	91,800	92,700	900	0.98%
NB	406,800	407,700	900	0.22%
ON	8,219,800	8,217,000	-2,800	-0.03%
QC	4,652,000	4,637,000	-15,000	-0.32%
BC	2,968,900	2,952,600	-16,300	-0.55%
AB	2,594,100	2,577,300	-16,800	-0.65%

Saskatchewan had the largest increase in jobs among all the provinces, with 3,500 jobs added. Québec came in second, with 300 more new jobs as those seen in Nova Scotia, which was in third place.

Alberta had the largest decrease, losing 16,800 jobs.

7 industries in Alberta actually saw an increase in jobs in July. Of those, manufacturing had the highest gains: 10,800.

The 9 remaining sectors reported by Statistics Canada saw job losses, with the construction sector losing the most, at 20,300 jobs:

Construction	-20,300
Information, culture and recreation	-9,200
Health care and social assistance	-8,100
Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas	-5,100
Agriculture	-4,200
Wholesale and retail trade	-2,900
Educational services	-2,100
Business, building and other support services	-400
Utilities	-400

Combined, these 8 industries lost 52,700 jobs.

Compared to a year ago, the industry with the highest job gains was “finance, insurance, real estate, rental & leasing”, increasing by nearly 19,000 jobs, a jump of 14.53%.

The “forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil & gas” sector saw the largest decrease over the last year, losing 20,600 jobs, which was about 12.61%.

	Jul 2024	Jul 2025	Change	% change
Finance, insurance, real estate, rental & leasing	129,400	148,200	18,800	14.53%
Transportation & warehousing	142,800	160,700	17,900	12.54%
Wholesale & retail trade	345,800	363,600	17,800	5.15%
Professional, scientific & technical services	232,900	248,300	15,400	6.61%
Accommodation & food services	142,500	153,800	11,300	7.93%
Manufacturing	152,100	163,300	11,200	7.36%
Public administration	121,300	130,500	9,200	7.58%
Construction	240,400	245,400	5,000	2.08%
Business, building & other support services	81,400	83,200	1,800	2.21%
Information, culture & recreation	89,600	91,000	1,400	1.56%
Agriculture	35,000	35,000	0	0.00%
Utilities	20,800	19,400	-1,400	-6.73%
Health care & social assistance	329,000	325,400	-3,600	-1.09%
Other services (except public administration)	102,000	94,200	-7,800	-7.65%
Educational services	184,600	172,600	-12,000	-6.50%
Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil & gas	163,300	142,700	-20,600	-12.61%

The report from Statistics Canada also shows that Alberta’s private sector shrunk by 15,800 between June and June. However, there were 35,800 more private-sector jobs than this time last year.

In contrast, public sector jobs were up by 500 over June, and Alberta had 10,400 more public sector workers compared to July 2024.

Self employed jobs were down by 1,600 over June and up by 18,100 over July 2024.

Part-time jobs grew last month. Alberta gained 21,600 part-time jobs (seasonally adjusted) between June and July.

In contrast, Alberta lost 38,400 full-time jobs during the same period, wiping almost three-quarters of the 51,300 full-time jobs they gained in June. So far, in 2025, however, we’ve had a net loss of only 10,600 full-time jobs.

These full-time losses last month were mostly men workers (-34,300), with a still substantial 4,200 fewer women working full-time. The part-time jobs were a gain for both men (-17,000) and women (4,500).

This is the largest decrease in full-time jobs since September 2023, when we lost 43,600 full-time jobs.

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 2,109,800. That means that there are 223,100 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 81.86%, meaning that in the 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 decreased.

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 was the only time in 2025, so far, that it has risen above 82.5%.

Speaking of full-time jobs, median wages for full-time workers in Alberta shrunk by 25¢, from $39.87 in June to $39.62 last month.

Part-time wages also decreased: from $26.30 an hour in June to $25.66 an hour in July, the lowest it has been since November.

The median wage for both full-time and part-time jobs fell from $37.79 in June to $37.53 last month, 22¢ behind British Columbia, putting Alberta in second place.

Alberta had the second highest median full-time hourly wage in July 2025, 8¢ behind of Ontario and 8¢ ahead of BC.

ON	$39.70
AB	$39.62
BC	$39.54
QC	$36.71
SK	$34.62
NL	$34.28
NS	$33.30
MB	$32.40
NB	$31.94
PEI	$29.92

Alberta had the second largest increase in median hourly wages for full-time wages over the past 12 months, down from first place in June.

	Jul 2024	Jul 2025	Change
ON	$38.10	$39.70	$1.60
AB	$38.16	$39.62	$1.46
BC	$38.19	$39.54	$1.35
NS	$32.10	$33.30	$1.20
MB	$31.25	$32.40	$1.15
NL	$33.21	$34.28	$1.07
QC	$35.64	$36.71	$1.07
SK	$33.72	$34.62	$0.90
NB	$31.22	$31.94	$0.72
PEI	$30.30	$29.92	-$0.38

For part-time workers, Alberta was still the second highest median hourly wage, but this time we were behind BC

BC	$28.69
AB	$25.66
ON	$24.75
MB	$24.22
NS	$23.97
SK	$23.50
NL	$23.36
QC	$23.20
NB	$22.60
PEI	$21.36

Alberta drops to 4th place when we look at median hourly part-time wages over the last year.

	Jul 2024	Jul 2025	Change
NL	$20.33	$23.36	$3.03
MB	$22.55	$24.22	$1.67
NS	$22.58	$23.97	$1.39
AB	$24.75	$25.66	$0.91
NB	$21.79	$22.60	$0.81
SK	$22.88	$23.50	$0.62
ON	$24.34	$24.75	$0.41
BC	$28.66	$28.69	$0.03
QC	$23.38	$23.20	-$0.18
PEI	$22.11	$21.36	-$0.75

By industry, Alberta wages increased in 182 of the 16 reported sectors. They decreased in the other 8.

	Jun 2025	Jul 2025	Change
Agriculture	$25.28	$28.31	$3.03
Business, building and other support services	$28.99	$31.36	$2.37
Educational services	$38.65	$40.80	$2.15
Other services (except public administration)	$30.86	$32.61	$1.75
Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing	$44.04	$44.80	$0.76
Professional, scientific and technical services	$48.62	$49.24	$0.62
Information, culture and recreation	$28.11	$28.39	$0.28
Wholesale and retail trade	$29.54	$29.65	$0.11
Accommodation and food services	$19.86	$19.82	-$0.04
Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas	$58.14	$57.96	-$0.18
Construction	$40.07	$39.71	-$0.36
Health care and social assistance	$36.40	$35.94	-$0.46
Utilities	$59.94	$58.86	-$1.08
Transportation and warehousing	$38.66	$37.48	-$1.18
Public administration	$47.47	$45.18	-$2.29
Manufacturing	$38.45	$34.77	-$3.68

Alberta saw its unemployment rate jump to 7.8%. It was 6.8% in June, 7.4% in May, 7.1% in March and April, and 6.7% in December and the first 2 months of 2025.

This is the highest it has been since October 2021, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alberta’s labour force increased last month, by 12,400. With having 16,800 fewer people actually working but 12,400 more people available to work than in June, it makes sense that our unemployment increased as much a it did.

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 10.5%; PEI, which was at 8.8%; and Ontario, which was at 7.9%.

All but 1 province saw unemployment rate increase last month, but Alberta saw the largest increase in its unemployment rate.

Canada saw an decrease in employment last month, with jobs across the country dropping by 40,800. Those gains were driven primarily by Alberta (-16,800), BC (-16,300), and Québec (-15,000). Saskatchewan had the highest gain (3,500).

The national unemployment rate remained at 6.9%. That’s down slightly 7.0% May, but where it was in April and June.