The federal government released their February 2024 job numbers last week, and job numbers are up in Alberta.
The net increase to jobs between last month and January was 17,400.
Among workers 25 years of age and older, women workers saw the larger job increases between January and February. There were 11,100 more women over 25 at work last month compared to January. That number jumps to 16,100, however, if you include those who are 15–24 years old.
On the other hand, 400 fewer men over 25 were employed in January over the previous month—but that changes to a gain of 1,300 if you include the younger group.
Statistics Canada provided no data on non-binary or intersex workers.
Here’s how Alberta’s new jobs compare to the other provinces:
| Jan 2023 | Feb 2023 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | 2,512,700 | 2,530,100 | 17,400 | 0.69% |
| QC | 4,524,400 | 4,533,200 | 8,800 | 0.19% |
| ON | 7,937,700 | 7,944,400 | 6,700 | 0.08% |
| NS | 511,600 | 517,900 | 6,300 | 1.23% |
| BC | 2,835,300 | 2,841,200 | 5,900 | 0.21% |
| SK | 600,800 | 603,100 | 2,300 | 0.38% |
| NB | 392,100 | 392,600 | 500 | 0.13% |
| PEI | 92,000 | 92,000 | 0 | 0.00% |
| NL | 245,500 | 243,700 | -1,800 | -0.73% |
| MB | 710,000 | 704,700 | -5,300 | -0.75% |
Alberta saw the largest increase of any province—up from second largest in January and third largest in December. They were second largest—behind Nova Scotia—for percentage increase, however.
Manitoba saw the largest decrease in new jobs, in absolute numbers and percentage, with 5,300 fewer people working last month than in January.
In Alberta, 9 job sectors saw job gains for January, with “construction” seeing the highest gains: 12,000.
Of 7 remaining sectors reported by Statistics Canada, all of them saw job losses in Alberta:
| Health care and social assistance | -6,900 |
| Educational services | -6,600 |
| Information, culture and recreation | -5,200 |
| Utilities | -2,200 |
| Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas | -1,300 |
| Other services (except public administration) | -1,000 |
| Accomodation and food services | -400 |
Combined, these 7 industries lost 23,600 jobs.
Compared to a year ago, the industry with the highest job gains was “wholesale and retail trade”. “Professional, scientific and technical services” saw the largest decrease over the last year.
| Feb 2023 | Feb 2024 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale and retail trade | 358,500 | 378,700 | 20,200 | 5.63% |
| Construction | 232,600 | 250,900 | 18,300 | 7.87% |
| Accommodation and food services | 124,100 | 139,200 | 15,100 | 12.17% |
| Business, building and other support services | 72,100 | 87,100 | 15,000 | 20.80% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 143,200 | 154,900 | 11,700 | 8.17% |
| Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing | 125,800 | 135,600 | 9,800 | 7.79% |
| Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas | 135,300 | 144,200 | 8,900 | 6.58% |
| Other services (except public administration) | 97,700 | 104,100 | 6,400 | 6.55% |
| Public administration | 116,900 | 122,700 | 5,800 | 4.96% |
| Health care and social assistance | 319,100 | 323,100 | 4,000 | 1.25% |
| Educational services | 160,100 | 163,200 | 3,100 | 1.94% |
| Information, culture and recreation | 82,700 | 83,300 | 600 | 0.73% |
| Utilities | 21,400 | 20,900 | -500 | -2.34% |
| Manufacturing | 144,200 | 143,400 | -800 | -0.55% |
| Agriculture | 47,500 | 39,100 | -8,400 | -17.68% |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 248,800 | 239,800 | -9,000 | -3.62% |
The report from Statistics Canada also shows that Alberta’s private sector grew by 17,000 between January and February; however, there were 86,500 more private-sector jobs than this time last year. Public sector jobs were up by 1,400 over January but higher than February 2023 by 28,300. Self employed jobs were down by 900 over January but down by 14,900 over February 2023.
Full-time jobs made up most of the job gains last month. Alberta gained 1,500 part-time jobs (seasonally adjusted) between January and February, but they gained 15,900 full-time jobs.
There were 3,800 men full-time workers who gained jobs last month. By comparison, the number of women who worked full-time increased by 12,100 during the same period.
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 2,070,700. That means that there are 184,000 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 81.84%, meaning that in the more than 4.5 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 decreased. There were 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.
Even though more people are working full-time now than in June 2019, there are more people working overall. Which means that full-time job growth hasn’t kept up with population growth.
Speaking of full-time jobs, wages for full-time workers in Alberta increased by 59¢, from an average of $38.35 an hour in January.
Part-time wages, on the other hand, decreased from $24.88 an hour in January to $24.42 in February, the lowest it’s been since August. The average wage for both full-time and part-time jobs combined decreased by 46¢, from $35.44 an hour to $35.90 an hour.
Alberta had the third highest average full-time hourly wage in February 2024, behind Ontario and British Columbia.
| BC | $38.64 |
| ON | $38.46 |
| AB | $38.35 |
| QC | $35.70 |
| SK | $34.44 |
| NL | $33.42 |
| NS | $32.19 |
| MB | $31.91 |
| NB | $31.48 |
| PEI | $30.40 |
This marks 6 months in a row that Alberta hasn’t had the highest average hourly wage for full-time workers.
We had the second highest average hourly wage for part-time workers, behind only BC.
| BC | $27.07 |
| AB | $24.42 |
| ON | $24.21 |
| NL | $23.80 |
| QC | $23.75 |
| NS | $22.57 |
| PEI | $22.31 |
| NB | $21.66 |
| MB | $21.65 |
| SK | $21.48 |
By industry, Alberta wages increased in 11 of the 16 reported sectors.
| Jan 2024 | Feb 2024 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture | $23.74 | $27.11 | $3.37 |
| Public administration | $45.73 | $47.93 | $2.20 |
| Utilities | $50.68 | $52.69 | $2.01 |
| Transportation and warehousing | $32.40 | $34.11 | $1.71 |
| Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas | $49.76 | $51.43 | $1.67 |
| Health care and social assistance | $33.93 | $35.56 | $1.63 |
| Educational services | $36.44 | $37.79 | $1.35 |
| Information, culture and recreation | $27.22 | $28.04 | $0.82 |
| Manufacturing | $35.59 | $36.21 | $0.62 |
| Accommodation and food services | $19.80 | $20.32 | $0.52 |
| Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing | $42.80 | $42.89 | $0.09 |
| Business, building and other support services | $27.90 | $27.63 | -$0.27 |
| Construction | $39.83 | $39.18 | -$0.65 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | $48.82 | $48.05 | -$0.77 |
| Other services (except public administration) | $29.84 | $28.89 | -$0.95 |
| Wholesale and retail trade | $26.72 | $25.55 | -$1.17 |
Alberta saw its unemployment rate remain at 6.2% last month, which is where it was in January and down from just 6.3% in December but still up from 5.9% we saw in November and October and 5.8% in September.
Alberta’s labour force also increased last month by 16,600, so, if you have 16,600 more people available to work than in January, but 17,400 more people actually working, then it’s not surprising that the unemployment rate stayed pretty much where it was.
As far as how it compares with the rest of the country, Alberta’s unemployment rate was the fifth highest. Alberta’s unemployment rate was lower than just 4 other provinces: Newfoundland and Labrador (10.2%), Prince Edward Island (7.0%), New Brunswick (6.9%), and Ontario (6.5%).
As far as change in unemployment rate, 3 of the provinces saw decreases: Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, and BC
That being said, Alberta’s unemployment rate in February 2023 was 5.9%, which means that with all the ups and downs in its unemployment rate over the last year, the percentage of the labour force in Alberta that remains without a job has actually increased.
To be fair, most provinces had a higher unemployment rate last month than they had the year before. Manitoba was the only one that saw a decrease.
Canada saw an increase in employment last month, with jobs across the country rising by only 40,700. Alberta saw the largest share of those jobs (17,400), followed by Québec (8,800), Ontario (6,700) and Nova Scotia (6,300).
The national unemployment rate rose slightly to 5.8%, although it was up from 5.1% last February.
