A look at Alberta's unemployment rate over the past 12 months.

By Troy Gillard

more people are working, though

Red Deer unemployment rate 9.9% for February

Mar 12, 2021 | 12:40 PM

The unemployment rate for the Red Deer region for the month of February was 9.9 per cent.

That’s up from 9.1 per cent in January and 9.8 in December.

Statistics Canada’s employment report shows RedDeer had 3,900 more people employed in February and 5,300 more in the labour force compared to the previous month.

Alberta’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate last month was also 9.9 per cent, down from 10.7 in January.

The number of jobs in the province increased by 16,800 (0.8 per cent). Full-time employment increased by 14,300 while part-time employment increased by 2,600.

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There was, however, some erosion of the labour force, with 3,800 net exits (0.2 per cent).

Compared to a year ago, employment in Alberta was down by 71,000 (3.1 per cent).

“It is encouraging to see that 17,000 jobs were created in Alberta last month, which brings our unemployment rate to its lowest level in a year,” said Doug Schweitzer, Alberta’s minister for Minister of jobs, economy and innovation.

“This comes after the Conference Board of Canada and BMO projected this week that Alberta will lead Canada in economic growth. It’s not time to pop champagne corks, but this is hopefully the beginning of a bounce-back for Alberta’s economy and job market.”

Below is a breakdown of the unemployment rate for each economic region in the province in February:

– Edmonton: 11.5 per cent

– Lethbridge-Medicine Hat: 11.1 per cent

– Calgary: 10.5 per cent

– Red Deer: 9.9 per cent

– Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House-Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River: 9.8 per cent

– Camrose-Drumheller: 9.5 per cent

– Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake: 9.4 per cent

The industries in Alberta that had the most employment increases in February from the previous month were Accommodation and Food Services, 19,200; Trade, 4,700; and Business, Building and Other Support Services, 3,600. Industries that had the most employment decreases were Forestry, Fishing, Mining, Oil and Gas, 3,900; Public Administration, 3,600; and Manufacturing, 3,300.

Nationally, employment increased by 259,000 (1.4 per cent) in February and the unemployment rate fell 1.2 percentage points to 8.2 per cent. That’s down from the 9.4 per cent recorded in January and is now at the lowest level since March 2020.

The figures blew past expectations of a gain of 75,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 9.2 per cent.

The gains almost wiped out the pandemic-related job losses in the previous two months.

Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate would have been 10.7 per cent in February if it factored in all the people who wanted to work but didn’t search for a job.

(With file from The Canadian Press, Statistics Canada, Lethbridge News Now)