unemployment rate reaches seven per cent in Calgary region
原始发布日期： 2016-01-08 发布者：李方字变大 字变小
 The federal agency said the unemployment rate in the Calgary census metropolitan area rose from 6.9 per cent in November. Employment was down by 6,900 positions and it was off by 6,800 jobs from December 2014. Robert Kavcic, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, said oil prices have had a “major negative impact” in Calgary which has dropped 12 spots in the past year to 18th overall in the bank’s labour market performance ranking of 33 Canadian cities. Provincewide, employment was down 3,900 jobs from November, but the unemployment rate remained steady at seven per cent as the labour force shrank by 4,000 people. Year-over-year, employment was down by 14,600. The provincial numbers were worse for full-time workers, with full-time employment in Alberta down 23,200 from November, and 44,000 from December 2014, while part-time employment rose. Todd Hirsch, chief economist with ATB Financial, said December was the third month in a row of job losses in Alberta. “Not surprisingly the largest losses were concentrated in the resource sector, which shed nearly 21,000 positions (-12.1 per cent) over the year. Other losses were posted in manufacturing (-5.3 per cent) and construction (-2.7 per cent), both of which are indirect results of a weaker energy sector,” he said. “These losses were partially offset by some gains in health care, education services, retail and public administration. However, many of these jobs are lower paying part-time jobs. “Unfortunately, the job market does not appear set for a turn-around, at least not in the first half of 2016. Oil prices continue to slide, which as raised expectations of continued layoffs in the oil patch. It may take until the second half of the year until petroleum prices — and Alberta’s job market — stabilize.” The Alberta government said the province’s unemployment rate is the fifth lowest in Canada, behind Saskatchewan’s 5.5 per cent, Manitoba’s 5.9 per cent, British Columbia’s 6.7 per cent, and Ontario’s 6.7 per cent. It said the following industries had the most increases in December from the previous month: Information, Culture and Recreation, 9,500; Professional, Scientific and Technical Services, 6,900; and Educational Services, 5,800. The industries with the most employment decreases were: Accommodation and Food Services, 11,500; Construction, 5,200; Agriculture; 3,000; and Trade, 3,000 over the same period. Nationally, employment in the natural resources sector was down 6.8 per cent, Statistics Canada reported, with most of the decline in Alberta. Accommodation and food services saw a 2.3 per cent drop, mostly in Alberta and B.C. Across Canada, the federal agency said the unemployment rate was unchanged from November at 7.1 per cent. Total employment in Canada rose by 22,800 positions from November and by 158,100 from December 2014. Dawn Desjardins, deputy chief economist with RBC Economics, said the resilience in hiring activity in 2015 was surprising given the economy’s weak growth performance. “There were job losses in areas that are most exposed to commodity price movements including the primary industries (-26,000) and construction (-19,000) and concentrated in Alberta,” said Desjardins. Andrew Grantham, senior economist with CIBC World Markets, said the further dive in oil prices will likely lead to additional layoffs in oil-rich provinces “and weakness in oil-reliant provinces is one reason why we think overall employment could be sluggish in the first half of the year and see the unemployment rate tick up slightly further.” Leslie Preston, senior economist with TD Economics, also said there will likely continue to be employment weakness in oil and gas-related sectors as oil prices remain below US$40 per barrel. mtoneguzzi@postmedia.com Twitter.com/MTone123 Calgary Herald |