By Olivia Thorington

Jobless Rates

Unemployment numbers up in Lethbridge area

May 10, 2019 | 6:52 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The latest employment numbers are starting to roll in from Statistics Canada.

In the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat area, the unemployment rate rose to 6.4 per cent from 6.1 per cent in March. In April of 2018, the rate was at 6.0 per cent.

Looking at the economic regions in Alberta, Camrose-Drumheller had the highest unemployment rate for April, at 9.3 per cent, which was actually a drop from March’s 9.7 per cent jobless rate.

In Calgary, the rate was listed at 7.5 per cent (down from 7.9 per cent). Edmonton was at 7.0 per cent (down from 7.3 per cent), Red Deer at 6.5 per cent (5.3 in March), Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake at 6.3 per cent (6.1 per cent in March). The Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River region’s unemployment rate was at 5.4 per cent, an increase from 4.4 per cent in March.

The rate for youth ages 15 to 24 (males and females combined) was at 9.7 per cent, while for adults 25 and older (men and women combined), the unemployment rate was at 6.2 per cent for the month of April.

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NATION-WIDE STATISTICS

Nation-wide, the Canadian economy reported its largest one-month employment surge since 1976. That was when the government began collecting comparable data.

Statistics Canada noted that 106,500 jobs were added across the country in April. The bulk of those positions were full-time.

The job increase helped bring down the nation-wide unemployment rate to 5.7 per cent last month. In March, the unemployment rate was at 5.8 per cent.

According to the statistics released Friday morning, employment grew 0.6 per cent with the increase in April. That was the highest proportional monthly expansion since 1994.

The Canadian Press says the April numbers reveal the overall gain was driven by the creation of 73,000 full-time jobs and 83,800 positions in the private sector.

The following are the jobless rates by province for the month of April (in brackets are the rates for March 2019):

-Newfoundland and Labrador 11.7 per cent (11.5)

-Prince Edward Island 8.6 per cent (8.9)

-New Brunswick 8.0 per cent (7.9)

-Nova Scotia 6.9 per cent (6.2)

-Alberta 6.7 per cent (6.9)

-Ontario 6.0 per cent (5.9)

-Saskatchewan 5.4 per cent (4.9)

-Manitoba 5.2 per cent (5.0)

-Quebec 4.9 per cent (5.2)

-British Columbia 4.6 per cent (4.7)

With files from The Canadian Press