Stay informed with the LNN Daily Newsletter
File photo taken in downtown Lethbridge. (Lethbridge News Now)

Lethbridge-Medicine Hat’s unemployment rate drops to 6.6 per cent in February

Mar 11, 2022 | 8:40 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The unemployment rate in Alberta saw a slight drop last month.

In February, the rate was 6.8 per cent. That’s down from 7.2 per cent in January.

The figure for the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat economic region also saw a dip, going down from 7.5 per cent in January to 6.6 per cent in February.

Below is how each economic region in Alberta fared last month, with January’s rate listed in parenthesis:

  • Calgary: 7.6 per cent (7.8)
  • Edmonton: 7.1 per cent (6.6)
  • Red Deer: 7.1 per cent (7.0)
  • Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake: 6.9 per cent (7.5)
  • Lethbridge-Medicine Hat: 6.6 per cent (7.5)
  • Camrose-Drumheller: 6.1 per cent (6.2)
  • Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River: 5.2 per cent (5.3)

The province noted that for youth (ages 15-24), both male and female, the unemployment rate last month was 13.8 per cent. For adults (ages 25-plus), both male and female, the rate was 5.7 per cent.

Full statistics for Alberta are available through the provincial government’s website.

NATIONAL ECONOMY

Statistics Canada said the national economy added 337,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.5 per cent, compared with 6.5 per cent in January.

READ MORE: Economy added 337.000 jobs in February, unemployment rate falls to pre-pandemic level

That is the lowest it has been since February 2020, when the rate was listed at 5.7 per cent just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.