NDP's Deron Bilous speaks about the latest Statistics Canada jobs report in Edmonton on Friday. (Photo NDP Caucus Facebook)

By Alex McCuaig

employment numbers

Alberta shedding jobs but local outlook not so bad

Jan 10, 2020 | 4:56 PM

Medicine Hat, AB – Full-time job numbers are starting 2020 much the same way they did in 2019, only worse. But southern Alberta appears to be beating the trend in the province with improvement in most of the key employment indicators.

Year-over-year statistics in the province show 20,000 full-time jobs lost between December 2018 and last month, according to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey.

Modest job gains which occurred over the past 12 months evaporated over the last two months of the year, something Deron Bilous, NDP economic development critic raised during a Friday morning press conference in Edmonton.

“It’s clear from today’s job numbers that December was another disappointing month – 24,000 full-time jobs lost in Alberta,” said Bilous, referencing the month-to-month decline.

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But the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat regional numbers are reflecting a far more positive jobs outlook with the Medicine Hat-specific report reflecting the best year-over-year employment numbers seen in at least five years for December.

Regionally, unemployment has fallen to four per cent with employment up in December 2019 from the same period the year before.

In Medicine Hat, the city’s unemployment rate has fallen to 4.1 per cent with the employment rate sitting a just over 64 per cent – the highest employment rate the city has seen for December in the past five years.

Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes acknowledged some upside to Friday’s jobs report.

“I saw some positive job numbers and I’m really glad for it,” said Barnes.

He added that despite a challenging economic climate, those in the constituency, “find a way to make things happen.”