Alberta’s unemployment steady while Red Deer’s rate the highest in Canada

Canada gained more jobs than expected in January, dropping national unemployment, though Red Deer has the highest unemployment rate in the country.

While Alberta sat in the middle of the pack last month in terms of its unemployment rate, Red Deer’s was the highest in the country.

Statistics Canada released its January 2025 Labour Force Survey on Friday, which showed Alberta’s unemployment rate sitting at 6.7, the same as the month prior and just one-tenth of a percentage point below the national rate.

Nationally it is the third monthly increase in jobs, but while Canada’s economy is healing, it’s preparing for a new threat with potential U.S. tariffs.

“We’ve made a lot of progress on getting inflation out of control,” said ATB Financial vice-president and chief economist Mark Parsons. “Those rates are coming down, and it’s providing a boost to the economy, but now I think what you’re going to see is businesses are going to be extremely cautious going the next few months, because they don’t know what to expect.”

Alberta’s jobless rate was the fourth highest in Canada behind Prince Edward Island (7.2), Ontario (7.6) and Newfoundland and Labrador (10.6 per cent).

- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

Red Deer’s unemployment rate was 9.7 per cent in January, down slightly from 10 per cent in December 2024 but still higher than the other 41 cities surveyed.

Calgary’s jobless rate was 7.7 per cent, a noticeable drop from 8.1 per cent the month prior.

“Despite economic uncertainty, Calgary’s labour market continues to demonstrate resilience, with strong employment growth and a notable decline in unemployment in January,” said Kate Koplovich, director of strategy at Calgary Economic Development, in a news release.

“Among major Canadian cities, Calgary remains a leader in national job gains. We’re keeping a close watch on the impact of interest rate cuts and potential tariff impacts to job creation in the coming months.”

Alberta’s population boom is slowing, but continues to grow so the labour market still has to catch up.

All those newcomers also need a place to live. Construction workers are in high demand.

“Many jobs that we’re seeing are certainly within that skilled labour,” said About Staffing recruitment officer Christina Schultz, “but there is an abundance of new jobs that are being created in the administrative fields, accounting professionals, leadership roles, (and) facilities management.”

Edmonton’s rate sank slightly from 7.5 per cent to 7.2.

In Lethbridge, the jobless rate sat at 5.2 per cent in January compared to 5.7 per cent the month prior.

The Labour Force Survey examined the week of Jan. 12 to 18, before U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration and initial announcement of tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China on Feb. 1.

Calgary restaurant 360 Grill & Lounge expects to add a few more jobs when they begin expansion renovation in a couple of months.

“That space is going to have a capacity of maybe 40 to 50 seating, so we need at least three to four servers,” said owner Sorochi Suleiman.

The owners also have three grocery stores and say they are bracing for what’s ahead.

“It’s been hard,” said Suleiman, “but we still have to ... fight to make it work.

Lisa Logan started searching for a new job in Calgary three months ago.

“It’s been a full-time job searching for a full-time job,” she said.

“I’m looking to get into IT, construction -- even oil and gas.”

Despite economic uncertainty, she’s optimistic.

“There’s so much uncertainty, with the Trump administration and all the changes happening, but I feel like there are a lot of good industries within the Calgary market that are going to be thriving.”

Parsons expects that the Bank of Canada won’t overreact to gains in unemployment and instead look ahead to challenges.

He expects interest rates will be cut at least two more times this year.