By Matt Nemeth

Job vacancies and hourly wages increasing in Alberta

Jul 13, 2017 | 4:21 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Job vacancies and hourly wages are on the rise here in Alberta according to Statistics Canada, with the agency’s quarterly report on the two suggesting labour market conditions in the province are improving.

It’s the first year-over-year increase in the number of unfilled jobs in Alberta since the beginning of 2015, while the average hourly wage being offered by employers is up 7.3 per cent from a year ago to $21.40.

“Some employers are finding it really challenging to actually find people to fill positions right now, which is kind of an interesting problem,” says Sandi Grass, a service coordinator for the job placement agency Being Human Services.

Grass notes since the crash of oil occurred, some workers are a bit reluctant to return to the industry.

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“It was a tough one this last time, so there’s some hesitation to go back,” said Grass.

There are now 43,000 unfilled jobs in Alberta, which is an increase of 9.3 per cent compared to the same time period in 2016.

But when you put that figure beside where unfilled jobs were at the beginning of 2015, it doesn’t even come close to the nearly 80,000 that were registered in the first quarter two years ago.

“Pre-recession things were really good,” says Grass. “It will take some time (to get back to where we were).”

The latest encouraging job market news for Alberta follows a growing downward unemployment rate trend since last November; provincially it’s 7.4 per cent now and in Medicine Hat it’s 4.5 per cent.

The Conference Board of Canada is also predicting Alberta will lead the country in economic growth this year, albeit from a weak starting point.