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Posted May 8, 2015, 10:02 PM
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BANNED
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Lower Mount Royal, Calgary
Posts: 5,147
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Job numbers holding up pretty well here.
http://calgaryherald.com/business/lo...number-of-jobs
Quote:
Alberta and Calgary see increase in number of jobs
MARIO TONEGUZZI, CALGARY HERALD
More from Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald
Published on: May 8, 2015
Last Updated: May 8, 2015 12:46 PM MDT
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Despite all the talk about layoffs in the oilpatch due to slumping oil prices, both Alberta and the Calgary area saw increases in jobs in April.
Statistics Canada reported that Alberta employment was up by 12,500, or 0.5 per cent, from March. Employment was up by 53,300 jobs, or 2.4 per cent, from a year ago. The province’s unemployment rate remained the same at 5.5 per cent.
In the Calgary area, employment was up by 0.8 per cent, or 6,300 jobs, from the previous month. It was up 4.6 per cent, or 36,600 positions, from a year ago. Calgary’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 5.3 per cent from 5.2 per cent in March.
Todd Hirsch, chief economist with ATB Financial, said the employment gains in Alberta are a bit deceiving as new jobs were all part-time positions — part time jobs were up 20,100, while there was a loss of 7,500 full-time jobs.
He said there were unsurprising losses in the sectors that are weakest at the moment: oil and gas (3,500), construction (3,800) and manufacturing (2,500) all shed workers. There were gains, however, in the category of “professional, scientific and technical services”, which added 5,500 jobs.
“That is a bit of a mystery, as these energy-related services are down nearly 8,000 since the beginning of the year. The sharp rebound may be the beginning of a trend toward self-employment in this category — professional engineers and geologists, for example, now working as part-time consultants in the industry,” said Hirsch.
“Looking forward, we still anticipate more job losses as companies adjust to slower market conditions. But given that oil prices have firmed up a bit . . . the worst-case doom-and-gloom scenarios for Alberta’s job market are looking less and less probable.”
Jeanette Sutherland, manager of workforce and productivity for Calgary Economic Development, said the job numbers show that the city continues to be a “bright light” in the Canadian economy.
“Our unemployment rate continues to be the lowest of major cities in Canada at 5.3 per cent,” she said, adding the unemployment rate in Calgary was 5.5 per cent a year ago.
“We’re continuing to see economic growth in some areas, which is really positive . . . Calgary is continuing to add jobs. However, the composition of full- and part-time jobs is changing a bit.”
Sutherland said while oil and gas and manufacturing jobs are down, there have been gains in health care, accommodation and food services, as well as transportation and logistics.
“We’ve had significant gains in the transportation and logistics sector, which really is a standout sector for us right now,” said Sutherland. “What it comes down to is that we’re really seeing that diversity in our economy is now coming into play. It’s going to help sustain us through some of the economic slowdown.”
Alberta was tied with Manitoba for the second lowest unemployment rate in Canada, behind Saskatchewan’s nation-leading rate of 4.3 per cent.
While jobs were up, the unemployment rate remained unchanged from March because the size of the labour force rose.
The Alberta government said the unemployment rate stayed the same from the previous month because while employment increased by 12,500 people, the labour force increased by 14,200.
The provincial government said that on an annual basis, full-time employment was up 30,100, while part-time jobs increased by 23,200 — accounting for 38.3 per cent of Canada’s job growth.
Douglas Porter, chief economist with BMO Capital Markets, said the resource sector saw only a small drop in jobs – less than 1,000 – but it is the weakest sector over the past year with a 6.6 per cent decline.
“(The rise in Alberta’s job numbers) may have been supported by the just-completed election campaign, as all the gains were in the service sector,” he said.
Robert Kavcic, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, said Alberta’s service sector continues to absorb resource-sector losses.
“The latter resumed shedding jobs in the month, and employment is now down 21,000 since peaking in September. Construction also fell for a second-straight month, and could fade further in the months ahead with housing starts now starting to crack,” he said.
Across Canada, Statistics Canada said employment was down 0.1 per cent with a loss of 19,700 jobs. However, year-over-year it was up by 0.8 per cent, or 139,100 positions.
Diana Petramala, economist with TD Economics, said the majority of the losses in Canada were concentrated in part-time employment (67,000), many of which were likely government jobs (9,900) and self-employment (24,000). Full-time jobs were up by 47,000 in the month.
mtoneguzzi@calgaryherald.com
Twitter.com/MTone123
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