Education continued losing more jobs than any other sector, a trend that began in July. Most new jobs created last month were in accommodations and food services.
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Unemployment in the census area covering Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo continues to be the highest it’s been in years, according to data for September released last Friday by Statistics Canada.
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Education continued losing more jobs than any other sector, a trend that began in July. Most new jobs created last month were in accommodations and food services.
Last month’s unemployment in the Wood Buffalo Cold Lake census region was 7.2 per cent, up slightly from seven per cent in August. The last time unemployment was at seven per cent was January 2022.
Employment in September dropped to 68.5 per cent from August’s 69.3 per cent. Employment in September 2023 was 71.1 per cent and unemployment was 5.9 per cent.
The participation rate—which measures how much of the population is working or actively looking for work—dropped to 73.8 per cent in September. The rate was 74.5 per cent in August and 75.3 per cent in September 2023.
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The labour force lost 600 positions in September from August, and grew by 400 positions from September 2023. The region lost 900 full-time jobs and gained 300 part-time jobs in September. Part-time work mostly stagnated from June to August. Since September 2023, the region lost 200 2,700 full-time jobs and gained 200 part-time.
Monthly gains and losses by industry in September were:
- Accommodation and food services gained 400 jobs
- Retail gained 300 jobs
- Health care and social assistance gained 300 jobs
- Professional, scientific and technical services gained 200 jobs
- Public administration gained 200 jobs
- Information, culture and recreation gained 200 jobs
- Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing lost 100 jobs
- Construction lost 200 jobs
- Business, building and other support services lost 300 jobs
- The sector covering natural resources and the oilsands lost 400 jobs
- The sector marked “other” lost 400 jobs
- Educational services lost 900 jobs
- There were no changes reported to jobs in the transportation and warehousing sector
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The province’s labour force shrank by 12,000 jobs in September from August. Most new jobs in Alberta were in the health care and social assistance field with 10,300 new jobs last month. The most losses provincially were reported in educational services with 18,100 fewer jobs from August.
Alberta’s unemployment rate last month was the second highest in Canada, dropping to 7.5 per cent in September from 7.7 per cent in August.
The national unemployment rate was 6.5 per cent, or 0.1 percentage points lower than August’s data. Newfoundland and Labrador led unemployment at 10 per cent.
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vmcdermott@postmedia.com
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