Edmonton has the highest unemployment rate of any Canadian city

The unemployment rate for Edmonton went up from 0.3 percent in December to 8.0 percent. In Calgary, the jobless rate increased 0.2 percent from where it sat at 7.1 percent during the same time period.

Edmonton now has the highest unemployment rate in the country and Calgary sits at number five overall. Alberta’s provincial jobless rate dropped 0.2 percent, down to 7.0 percent in December.

Since December the province has cut 1000 jobs, including 23,600 full-time jobs. To balance that a total of 22,600 new part-time jobs were created in December. Alberta’s labour force lost 7,500 people in December as well.

Alberta’s employment remained more or less the same across 2019, with a 0.2 percent drop for the calendar year.

StatsCan indicated that the numbers were better than expected for the month of December throughout the nation. Last month, Canada acquired more than 35,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 5.6 percent. Alberta remains “cautiously optimistic” that it can renew job-creation and grow in the months to come.

“These numbers reinforce the importance of staying focused on job creation and ensuring that Alberta has a competitive business environment that creates jobs for Alberta families,” a government spokesperson wrote in an email to CTV News.

“Our government will be relentless in our advocacy with the federal government and our partners in Confederation and not rest until we see critical pipeline projects built.”

The Opposition New Democrats were critical of the government’s corporate tax cut citing the new StatsCan numbers as proof. “This is another disastrous month for jobs and, unfortunately, it’s Albertans who are suffering,” NDP economic critic Deron Bilous wrote in a release. “All this is happening as TMX is under construction. This Premier’s plan is failing Albertans. Period.”