Mixed bag jobs report

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The number of new jobs the city has risen but so has the unemployment rate, according to the latest Medicine Hat-specific employment numbers released by Statistics Canada Friday.

The report shows a year-over-year increase of 4,700 additional jobs in Medicine Hat from July 2018 but that number was buffered by a 10 per cent unemployment rate – a 5.2 per cent increase in the last 12 months.

The Medicine Hat-specific numbers also reflects a slight increase in the employment rate of Hatters as well as participation rate over the previous year. Those optimistic signs are tempered by an increase of actual unemployed from 1,800 to 4,500 in the city over the same period.

The Labour Force Survey regional numbers which encompass the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat Statistics Canada reporting region shows an increase in the unemployment rate from 4.7 per cent in July 2018 to 6.4 per cent last month. The employment rate also saw a less than two per cent decrease.

Provincially, the unemployment rate remained relatively stable with a slight increase from 6.6 per cent to 6.8 per cent year over year.

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