Alberta had the highest drop in employment in Canada last month,\u00a0after\u00a0leading the nation in job growth in June, according to Statistics Canada’s latest monthly labour force data.<\/p>\n
Accounting for job gains and losses across industries, Alberta’s net\u00a0loss in July was 17,000 jobs. The province’s\u00a0construction industry was hit hardest, losing\u00a020,300 jobs.<\/p>\n
This is a reversal from June, when\u00a0Alberta led the country with\u00a0a net gain of 30,000 new jobs, with 51,300 full-time jobs created and 21,300\u00a0part-time jobs lost.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed the growing concern over job losses Friday amid uncertainty over tariffs.<\/p>\n
“The geographic spread in the July report\u00a0is more in Western Canada, it’s in Alberta and Saskatchewan, less in the manufacturing sectors, where we will\u00a0expect to see pressure,” Carney said.<\/p>\n
This is why the federal government is “taking action in steel and lumber, and we will in autos and other areas,” he said.<\/p>\n
Agriculture and natural resource extraction, like\u00a0forestry, fishing, and energy, are among the other industries in Alberta that lost jobs.<\/p>\n
“We’ve done a little bit better than the country as a whole, but still cold comfort if you’re one of the people in Alberta who’s unemployed, looking for work,” Rob Roach, deputy chief economist at ATB financial, told\u00a0CBC\u00a0News.<\/p>\n
From tariff troubles to cuts in the temporary foreign workers program, Roach said construction and agriculture face unique challenges.<\/p>\n
“It’s not necessarily that positions are being lost; it’s that employers are having some trouble filling those positions,” Roach said.<\/p>\n
“It’s a case of fewer non-permanent residents, temporary workers available, as the federal government has tried to reduce the number of non-permanent residents in Canada.”<\/p>\n
Roach said major projects have been delayed due to uncertainty, like the planned construction of chemical firm Dow’s\u00a0multi-billion dollar, net-zero petrochemical project near Edmonton.<\/p>\n
The company has said it\u00a0looks to conserve cash amid unfavourable market conditions, and expects extended pressure on earnings as uncertainty from U.S. President Donald Trump’s erratic trade policies adds to macroeconomic volatility.<\/p>\n
“While job numbers fluctuate month-to-month, we can see very positive trends in Alberta’s job growth, which is up 64,400 jobs year-over-year,” said\u00a0Joseph Schow, minister of jobs, economy, trade and immigration, in a statement to CBC.<\/p>\n
ATB found between April 2023 and April 2024<\/a>, 92,000 jobs were created in Alberta,\u00a0equalling\u00a0a year-over-year growth rate\u00a0of 3.8 per cent.<\/p>\n