Alberta Employment and Labour Market Update

For the week of February 7, 2022

Employment Update: Canada lost 200,000 jobs in January. It is worth noting that Ontario and Quebec felt most of these losses after confronting the Omicron wave.

Meanwhile, Alberta employment increased by 7,000 jobs. However, full-time jobs receded by 3,900, and part-time employment increased by 10,900 positions.

The goods and manufacturing sector drove gains, with 18,400 positions filled. Service sector jobs (including education, professional and science services) declined by 11,300 positions month over month. Reductions experienced by the service sector would have been more significant were it not for gains in food, cultural, healthcare and accommodations roles.

These shifts have significant implications for Alberta employment. The trend displaces workers within specific skillsets and targets specific industries where much of the displacement occurs. Meanwhile, lower-paying jobs grow in service industries with fewer hours of work offered.

Alberta’s unemployment rate dropped slightly to 7.2%, and labour market participation reduced to 69.6%.

Construction permit values increased by 14% in 2021 – inflated input costs drove 60% of that increase.

Alberta inflation year over year increased to 4.8%, matching the national CPI rate.

On the bargaining front, 2022 negotiated wage settlements in the private sector average 1.26%. 2023 average negotiated private sectors wage settlements are 1.12%. Public sector settlements average 0.8% in 2022, and Public sector settlements average in 2023. The recent nurses’ wage settlement of 4.25% over four years, ratified by 87% of their membership, reaffirms this pattern.

Province-wide average wage rates in Alberta employment contracted 1.2% month over month and are down 2% year over year.

All the above factors must be considered when considering compensation and collective agreement negotiations strategies.

Visit our homepage for more information on our labour relations and human resources firm, with offices in Edmonton, Alberta, and Prince Geroge and Victoria, British Columbia.

Respectfully submitted by Workforce Delivery Inc.

(c) Workforce Delivery Inc. 2022