(The Canadian Press)

By Troy Gillard

latest numbers show...

Red Deer unemployment rate 10.1% for March

Apr 9, 2021 | 10:15 AM

The unemployment rate for the Red Deer region last month came in at 10.1 per cent, according to the latest numbers released Friday.

That’s up slightly from 9.9 per cent in February and essentially on par with the 10.1 per cent local jobless rate in March 2020.

Alberta’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 9.1 per cent in March, a 0.8 percentage point decrease from February and unchanged from the same month last year.

The province’s jobless rate last month was the third highest in Canada, behind New Brunswick’s 9.2 per cent and Newfoundland and Labrador’s 12.4.

At look regional unemployment rates in Alberta last month:

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– Edmonton: 11.3 per cent

– Calgary: 10.4 per cent

– Red Deer: 10.2 per cent

– Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House-Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River: 10.0 per cent

– Lethbridge-Medicine Hat: 9.5 per cent

– Camrose-Drumheller: 9.1 per cent

– Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake: 9.1 per cent.

The national unemployment rate was 7.5%, down 0.7 percentage points from the previous month.

Employment in Canada increased by 37,100 in March, and the labour force increased by 18,400 people from the previous month, according to Statistics Canada.

Full-time employment increased by 11,900 while part-time employment increased by 25,100 over the same period.

Between March 2020 and March 2021, employment in Canada increased by 71,600, while the number of unemployed Albertans increased by 5,700 over the same period.

The Alberta economy added 37,100 jobs in March for an increase of 1.7 per cent. The number of jobs compared to February 2020 before the pandemic was down 33,900 (-1.6 per cent).

About a third of Alberta’s new jobs in March were full-time positions. The number of full-time jobs was down by 53,900 (-3.0 per cent) compared to the pre-pandemic level in February 2020 while part-time positions were up by 20,000 (+5.6 per cent).

The number of officially unemployed Albertans fell by 18,700 (-7.7 per cent) in March leaving a total of 223,400 Albertans out of work and actively looking.

(With file from Alberta Labour, Statistics Canada, ATB Financial)