Alberta's labour market by sector. (Image courtesy of the Alberta government).

By Alex McCuaig

Jobs by sector

More than 16,000 natural resource jobs lost in Alberta over past 12 months

Mar 6, 2020 | 3:06 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – While there is some positive news coming out of the latest job statistics, how good that news is will be largely dependent on the category of occupation as the natural resource sector – which includes oil and gas – shedding more than 16,000 positions in Alberta during the past year.

The biggest job creation sector in the past year, according to Statistics Canada’s latest Labour Force Survey, is the healthcare and social assistance field which saw an increase of more than 21,000 positions from February 2019 to last month.

Also hard hit was the business, building and other support services category – down by more than 16,000 positions over the past year – and the construction sector – which has seen 10,000 fewer positions since February 2019.

Agriculture was the only category in the province’s goods-producing sector to see positive job growth in the past 12 months with 3,500 jobs added. The two other listed industries under that category in addition to natural resources and construction – manufacturing and utilities – each saw small job losses.

Gains in employment in the province in the last year were largely from the service sector with accommodation and food services along with professional, scientific and technical services categories both adding nearly 10,000 jobs each.

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