Alberta's unemployment rate ticks downward to 8.3%, Canada ties 10-year record

Alberta's unemployment rate continues to decline with the addition of 19,000 full time jobs, according to numbers released Friday by Statistics Canada.

"In February the unemployment rate fell by 0.5 percentage points to 8.3 per cent, as fewer people searched for work," read the release.

• Unemployment rate in Calgary drops slightly in January

Gains in full-time work were offset by 18,000 losses in past-time employment.

The jobless rate in the province hit nineper cent in November 2016, thehighest since 1994.

Despite a relatively stable job market in recent months, Alberta's unemployment rate is the third highest in the country behind Newfoundland (14.2 per cent) and New Brunswick (8.9 per cent).

Canada turns corner

Across the nation,Canada's economy pushed the unemployment rate down to 6.6 per cent.

An increase of more than 105,000 full-time jobs offset a decline of nearly 90,000 part-time jobs. In the past 12 months, 288,000 jobs have been added.

The current national jobless rate is tied with its lowest level in almost a decade.

• MORE CALGARY NEWS |Mother to be sentenced Friday for death of nine-year-old girl
• MORE CALGARY NEWS |Trudeau speaks to the heart of Texans in pitch for Canadian oil