Alberta loses 14,000 jobs in February but Calgary gains 2,100
The collapse in oil prices continues to hit Alberta's labour market with employment falling by 14,000 in February, pushing the jobless rate to its highest level since September 2011.
Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald
Oilfield services in the field.	KAREN BLEIER / AFP/Getty Images
The collapse in oil prices has hit Alberta's labour market with employment in the province falling by 14,000 in February, pushing the unemployment rate up 0.8 percentage points to 5.3 per cent, the highest since September 2011, said Statistics Canada.
The federal agency reported Friday that employment losses were in a number of industries, but most notably in the natural resources sector which alone shed 7,000 positions last month.
Since hitting a peak in September 2014, employment in the sector has decreased by 20,000 jobs, or 11 per cent.
Other losses last month also occurred in the retail and wholesale trade; professional, scientific and technical services; as well as manufacturing sectors.
However, in the Calgary census metropolitan area jobs rose by 2,100 or 0.3 per cent from the previous month while the unemployment rate went up to 5.0 per cent from 4.7 per cent. On an annual basis, Calgary region employment has grown by 26,100 or 3.3 per cent.
Year-over-year, Alberta has seen the creation of 36,700 new jobs for an increase of 1.6 per cent.
"It's been expected for some time now—the drop in energy prices finally appears to be taking a toll on workers in Alberta," said Todd Hirsch, chief economist with ATB Financial, adding February's drop in jobs was one of the largest in several years.
He said a category of jobs labelled "professional, scientific and technical services"—which would be largely occupations such as engineers, geologists and other positions involved in oil and gas extraction—shed 6,900. Retail trade jobs also showed a drop of more than 10,000.
"Still, there were some sectors that gained ground. Construction employment rose by 7,000 month-over-month and jobs in health care and social assistance advanced by 5,900," said Hirsch.
"The loss of employment in Alberta is unfortunate, but entirely expected. While many employers appeared to be keeping workers as long as they could, by February, the cost pressures finally forced some layoffs. With oil prices remaining low in March, we can anticipate a few more unpleasant job reports in the short term."
Jeanette Sutherland, manager of workforce and productivity for Calgary Economic Development, said job losses in the natural resources sector due to the decline in the price of oil were expected and while some of those job losses were local, most were experienced in the Wood Buffalo (Fort McMurray) region.
"Some of the employment growth in Calgary can be attributed to a growth in migration numbers. Jobs don't bring people, but people bring jobs. We are still seeing solid population growth in our city that will attract further investment and labour activity," she said.
"Year-over-year, we've seen employment gains across the province in agriculture, construction, business building and other support services, education, health care, accommodation and food services. A significant employment gain has been in transportation and logistics due to the fact that Calgary is now considered Western Canada's leading distribution centre and transportation hub."
Nationally, Statistics Canada said employment was unchanged in February but the unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage points to 6.8 per cent as more people searched for work.
Across Canada, 1,000 jobs were shed from the previous month.
In the 12 months to February, employment increased by 129,000, or 0.7 per cent, with most of the growth in the second half of the period, it said, adding that full-time employment rose by 121,000, or 0.8 per cent, while there was little change in part-time work.
In a commentary, Robert Kavcic, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, said February's results hint that job losses won't be contained to just energy workers as much of Alberta's economy spins off from activity in the oil patch.
Jonathan Bendiner, economist with TD Economics, said he expects the low oil price environment to manifest itself in the Canadian jobs market as 2015 progresses.
"The regional divide in near term economic prospects was on show (Friday's) report," he wrote in a commentary. "Indeed, Alberta recorded the steepest decline in February, while Ontario and Quebec recorded the only gains in employment. This regional divide is forecast to widen as continued weakness in the resource sector is expected to weigh on the economies of oil-producing provinces."
mtoneguzzi@calgaryherald.com
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