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By Justin Goulet/LethbridgeNewsNOW

Unemployment rate in Lethbridge-Medicine Hat down to 3.3 per cent in September

Oct 7, 2022 | 2:39 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The unemployment rate in Alberta rose slightly last month.

In September, unemployment was at 5.5 per cent, up from 5.4 per cent in August. The Lethbridge-Medicine Hat economic region saw a drop, with the jobless rate at 3.3 per cent last month, compared to 3.9 per cent in August.

Below is how each economic region in the province fared in September, with August’s figure listed in parenthesis:

• Camrose-Drumheller: 6.6% (6.4%)
• Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake: 6.2% (6.3%)
• Calgary: 5.9% (5.6%)
• Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River: 5.7% (5.4%)
• Edmonton: 5.2% (5.3%)
• Red Deer: 4.5% (4.4%)
• Lethbridge-Medicine Hat: 3.3% (3.9%)

Alberta’s Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation Tanya Fir noted that overall, the province is growing.

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She said, “In the second quarter, we saw almost 35,000 people move to our province, including almost 10,000 from other provinces and territories. An additional 10,800 jobs once again means that more Albertans and Alberta families are receiving regular paycheques.”

“While Alberta’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 5.5 per cent, both our employment and participation rates increased and remain the highest in the country at 65.2 per cent and 69 per cent, respectively,” Fir stated.

She continued, “We know that Albertans are hard-working and these numbers are clear proof of that. More Albertans are looking for work and more of them are working than anywhere else in Canada.”

Fir said the province will “continue to focus on economic growth and diversification, creating good jobs and making life more affordable for Albertans.”

Nationally, the Canadian economy added 21,000 jobs in September and Statistics Canada reported an unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent last month, compared to 5.4 per cent in August.