Five-thousand jobs were created in Edmonton last month, says a labour force survey.
While the unemployment rate was left unchanged at 5.8%, that percentage has steadily declined since December 2009 when it sat at 7.8% said Jeannine Usalcas, labour analyst for Statistics Canada.
During 2010, Edmonton employment increased by 16,000 jobs in the areas of health care and social assistance, construction, natural resources and retail and wholesale trade said Usalcas.
Between December 2010 and January 2011, Alberta employment saw an increase of 22,000 jobs.
For Canada, employment rose for the second consecutive month with a gain of 69,000 but saw the unemployment rate also increase by 0.2 points up to 7.8%.
‘We still need more time but I think this is showing more people are participating in the labour market,” said Usalcas. “Some people who didn’t think jobs were available are coming out of the woodwork and looking.”
Source: Edmonton Sun
