Unemployment rate both up and down for Red Deer in March 2026

Apr 10, 2026 | 3:43 PM

Depending on which metrics you look at, Red Deer had both a good and a not-quite-as-good March when it comes to unemployment rates.

The seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate (three-month moving average) in Red Deer this March ticked up to 5.2 per cent, from 4.6 per cent in February. Unadjusted means the numbers have not been modified to eliminate the effects of seasonal and calendar influences, according to Statistics Canada.

On the bright side, that still leaves the Red Deer economic region, one of seven in Alberta, with the lowest unemployment rate province-wide.

Edmonton: 6.9% (+0.1)
Calgary: 7.0% (+0.5)
Lethbridge-Medicine Hat: 7.5% (+0.6)
Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake: 7.4% (+0.2)
Camrose-Drumheller: 7.9% (+0.5)
Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River: 5.4% (-0.1)

Looking at unemployment rates, seasonally adjusted (three-month moving average) this time: Red Deer sits at 6.3 per cent as of March, which is down from 7.2 per cent in February.

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Calgary went from 6.6 per cent in February to 6.7 per cent in March; Edmonton moved from 6.8 per cent to 6.5; and Lethbridge dropped from 6.8 per cent to 6.0 per cent.

Provincially (adjusted figures), unemployment was up 0.2 percentage points to 6.5 per cent. But that’s still down 0.7 points from a year ago, and down 0.2 from the start of the year.

In March, Alberta added 21,500 full-time jobs, and lost 15,000 of the part-time variety. That’s a mirror-image from February when more than 17,300 full-time roles were lost, and over 15,000 part-time ones were added.

by rdnewsNOW staff

Unemployment rate both up and down for Red Deer in March 2026

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