The federal government released their June 2024 job numbers last week, and job numbers are up in Alberta.
The net increase to jobs between last month and May was 8,100. That falls significantly short of making up for the 20,400 jobs lost between April and May.
Among workers 25 years of age and older, women saw the largest increase between May and June. There were 7,800 more women over 25 at work last month compared to May. Those numbers drop to just 3,000 if you include those who are 15–24 years old.
For men, however, only 6,300 more saw work compared to those working in May. When you add in the younger cohort, it also drops, but to higher than women workers, at 5,100.
Statistics Canada provided no data on non-binary or intersex workers.
Here’s how Alberta’s job numbers compare to the other provinces:
| May 2024 | Jun 2024 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ON | 8,045,000 | 8,054,800 | 9,800 | 0.12% |
| AB | 2,517,100 | 2,525,200 | 8,100 | 0.32% |
| MB | 711,100 | 714,200 | 3,100 | 0.44% |
| NB | 397,400 | 400,400 | 3,000 | 0.75% |
| NL | 242,000 | 244,600 | 2,600 | 1.07% |
| PEI | 91,500 | 92,100 | 600 | 0.66% |
| AK | 603,600 | 604,000 | 400 | 0.07% |
| NS | 514,600 | 512,900 | -1,700 | -0.33% |
| BC | 2,863,300 | 2,853,600 | -9,700 | -0.34% |
| QC | 4,532,300 | 4,514,600 | -17,700 | -0.39% |
Ontario saw the largest increase in jobs among all the provinces, with nearly 100,000 jobs added in just one month. Thaat’s on top of the 50,000 jobs they gained in May.
Of the 7 provinces who saw job gains last month, saw the second largest increase.
We drop to 4th place—behind New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Manitoba—when we look at the new jobs as a percentage of May’s job numbers.
Just 7 of the industries in Alberta actually saw an increase in jobs in June. Of those, “accomodation and food services” had the highest gains: 17,200.
Of 9 remaining sectors reported by Statistics Canada, all of them saw job losses in Alberta:
| Transportation and warehousing | -11,700 |
| Information, culture and recreation | -11,000 |
| Wholesale and retail trade | -10,300 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | -10,000 |
| Public administration | -8,800 |
| Construction | -3,800 |
| Utilities | -3,000 |
| Business, building and other support services | -1,400 |
Combined, these 3 industries lost 60,000 jobs.
Compared to a year ago, the industry with the highest job gains was “forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas”, increasing by over 25,100 new jobs, a jump of 18.76%. “wholesale and retail trade” saw the largest decrease over the last year, losing 32,200 jobs.
| May 2023 | May 2024 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil & gas | 133,800 | 158,900 | 25,100 | 18.76% |
| Accommodation & food services | 130,800 | 151,400 | 20,600 | 15.75% |
| Manufacturing | 140,900 | 156,900 | 16,000 | 11.36% |
| Business, building & other support services | 68,600 | 82,800 | 14,200 | 20.70% |
| Other services (except public administration) | 100,000 | 111,500 | 11,500 | 11.50% |
| Educational services | 159,800 | 171,000 | 11,200 | 7.01% |
| Public administration | 115,700 | 125,200 | 9,500 | 8.21% |
| Health care & social assistance | 322,600 | 329,500 | 6,900 | 2.14% |
| Transportation & warehousing | 147,900 | 151,300 | 3,400 | 2.30% |
| Finance, insurance, real estate, rental & leasing | 128,900 | 132,200 | 3,300 | 2.56% |
| Information, culture & recreation | 83,200 | 86,500 | 3,300 | 3.97% |
| Utilities | 19,800 | 21,800 | 2,000 | 10.10% |
| Professional, scientific & technical services | 239,000 | 232,800 | -6,200 | -2.59% |
| Agriculture | 45,300 | 36,700 | -8,600 | -18.98% |
| Construction | 245,300 | 232,300 | -13,000 | -5.30% |
| Wholesale & retail trade | 376,600 | 344,400 | -32,200 | -8.55% |
The report from Statistics Canada also shows that Alberta’s private sector shrunk by 1,000 between May and June. That’s on top of the 11,500 we lost between April and May. However, there were still 60,300 more private-sector jobs than this time last year.
Public sector jobs were up by 6,100 over May, which wasn’t enough to make up for the loss of 13,000 the month before. Alberta had only 1,400 public sector workers compared to June 2023. Self employed jobs were up by 3,000 over May but up by 4,800 over June 2023.
Part-time jobs rose last month. Alberta gained 2,400 part-time jobs (seasonally adjusted) between May and June. It gained 5,700 full-time jobs between May and June.
Between June 2023 and June 2024, however, part-time jobs grew nearly twice as fast as full-time jobs: 43,600 compared to 23,400.
All the new full-time workers were men, according to Statistics Canada. There were 12,100 men full-time workers who gained jobs last month, but that’s only half of the 24,800 men who lost their full-time jobs in May 2024.
By comparison, the number of women who worked full-time decreased by 6,300 during the same period. That’s on top 8,500 women who lost their full-time jobs in May.
In June 2019, the month before the Job Creation Tax Cut came into effect, there were 1,886,700 people working full-time. Last month, there were 2,040,200. That means that there are 153,500 more full-time jobs than there were before the UCP cut the tax on corporate profits.
While more full-time jobs does seem like a good thing, let’s take a look at how much of a percentage of total jobs are full-time jobs. In June 2019, full-time jobs made up 82.50% of all jobs in the province.
Last month, they were at 80.8%, meaning that in the more than 4.5 years since the UCP government introduced the so-called Job Creation Tax Cut, the percentage of Alberta workers being employed in full-time positions has decreased. There were a handful of times during 2023 when this number passed 82.5%, but it was always only marginally and came right back down the following month.
Even though more people are working full-time now than in June 2019, there are more people working overall. Which means that full-time job growth hasn’t kept up with population growth.
Speaking of full-time jobs, wages for full-time workers in Alberta decreased by a full dollar, wiping out the 35¢ gained in May. The median hourly wage in Alberta in June was $33. This is the only time in 2024 that full-time workers have seen a decrease in their median hourly wage.
Part-time wages, on the other hand, increased by 30¢. Media hourly wages for part-time workers had sat at $19.00, where it’d been for 6 out of the previous 7 months.
The median wage for both full-time and part-time jobs combined dropped by down to $30 an hour, the same place it sat at between September and March. It was at $30.77 in May and June.
Alberta had the second highest median full-time hourly wage in June 2024, behind British Columbia.
| BC | $34.00 |
| AB | $33.00 |
| ON | $32.45 |
| QC | $31.43 |
| SK | $30.26 |
| NL | $29.68 |
| MB | $28.00 |
| NS | $27.87 |
| NB | $26.74 |
| PEI | $26.44 |
Alberta hasn’t had a median full-time hourly wage higher than BC at any point in 2024 so far.
As far as the median hourly wage for part-time workers, Alberta was behind BC once again.
| BC | $21.00 |
| AB | $19.30 |
| QC | $19.00 |
| SK | $18.14 |
| ON | $18.00 |
| MB | $18.00 |
| NS | $18.00 |
| NB | $17.50 |
| NL | $16.68 |
| PEI | $16.10 |
By industry, Alberta wages increased in 8 of the 16 reported sectors. They remained unchanged in 3, and decreased in all the rest.
| May 2024 | Jun 2024 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance, insurance, real estate, rental & leasing | $35.71 | $38.46 | $2.75 |
| Transportation & warehousing | $30.52 | $33.14 | $2.62 |
| Utilities | $48.08 | $49.60 | $1.52 |
| Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil & gas | $48.56 | $50.00 | $1.44 |
| Business, building & other support services | $23.00 | $23.50 | $0.50 |
| Accommodation 7 food services | $17.00 | $17.50 | $0.50 |
| Public administration | $45.00 | $45.33 | $0.33 |
| Construction | $35.76 | $35.90 | $0.14 |
| Other services (except public administration) | $25.00 | $25.00 | $0.00 |
| Wholesale & retail trade | $22.00 | $22.00 | $0.00 |
| Information, culture & recreation | $21.00 | $21.00 | $0.00 |
| Manufacturing | $32.50 | $32.00 | -$0.50 |
| Educational services | $37.36 | $36.37 | -$0.99 |
| Health care & social assistance | $30.00 | $29.00 | -$1.00 |
| Professional, scientific & technical services | $40.00 | $37.50 | -$2.50 |
| Agriculture | $23.50 | $21.00 | -$2.50 |
Alberta saw its unemployment rate decrease to 7.1% last month, down from 7.2% in May but still higher than the 7.0% it was at in April. This makes 3 months in a row we’ve been 7% or above, something we haven’t seen since 2011.
Luckily, Alberta’s labour force increased last month by 6,600. Otherwise, our unemployment rate would’ve been higher. If you have 8,100 more people actually working but only 6,600 more people available to work than in April, then it’s not surprising that the unemployment rate decreased by only one-tenth of a percentage point.
As far as how it compares with the rest of the country, Alberta’s unemployment rate was the fourth highest, behind just Newfoundland and Labrador, which was at 9.2%; Prince Edward Island, which was at 8.0%; and New Brunswick, which was at 7.7%.
Canada saw an decrease in employment last month, with jobs across the country dropping by 1,400. Those loses were driven primarily by Québec (17,700) and BC (9,700).
The national unemployment rate rose to 6.4% from 6.2% in May. It was also up from 5.4% last June.
