Alberta’s Labour Force Statistics for July 2020, released today, show that unemployment in the province dropped by 2.7% to 12.8%. 

Western Alberta, which includes the Grande Prairie area, saw a smaller decrease of 2.1% to 14.4%. While this is an improvement, employment is much lower than July 2019, which had an unemployment rate of 5.2%, the best in the province. 

Both Edmonton and Calgary’s rates are higher and saw less of a decrease, at 15.5% and 14.9%. The Lethbridge-Medicine Hat area saw only a 0.3% decrease but has the best rate in Alberta at 9.5%. 

Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Tourism Tanya Fir issued a statement on today’s Labour Force Survey from Statistics Canada: 

“It’s welcome to see job increases for the third straight month, with 187,000 Albertans returning to work over this period. 

“But we know that far too many Alberta families are still out of work and worried about their futures. The global pandemic and the opportunistic Russia-Saudi oil price war has sent shock waves throughout the world economy, and Alberta is not immune from the effects. What’s more, many Albertans have never fully recovered from the downturn in 2014-15. 

“We must remain vigilant in combatting COVID-19. At the same time, Alberta’s government is pursuing our ambitious recovery plan, including: 

  • A record-setting $10 billion investment in infrastructure spending. 
  • Accelerating the Job Creation Tax Cut (the lowest corporate tax in Canada) to ensure Alberta remains the best place for employer investment in Canada. 
  • Introducing the Innovation Employment Grant, a refundable tax credit targeted at smaller companies to encourage technology and investment in Alberta. 
  • Investing almost $28 million to create jobs and spur investment in the agriculture and agri-food industries. 
  • Launching the Invest Alberta Corporation to boost investment attraction efforts in key markets, such as energy, agriculture, tourism, technology, aviation, aerospace and financial services, with major partners around the globe. 

The latest job statistics are available HERE.