Alberta unemployment dips to 7.1% as 19,000 new jobs created

Alberta's unemployment rate dropped in March,according to Statistics Canada, but Calgary and Edmontondidn't fare as well as the rest of the province.

Total employment grew by 19,000 jobs, including 14,500 full-time jobs,pushing the province's unemployment rate to7.1 per cent, down from 7.9 per cent in February.

After edging above the national rate in early 2016 for the first time in nearly 30 years Alberta's level of unemployment now matches the Canada-wide average.

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The employment growth was driven largely by increases in theretail and wholesale trade sectors.The numbers paint a different picture in theprovince's biggest cities, however.

Calgary's unemployment rate edged up 0.2 percentage pointsto 8.6 per cent, while Edmonton's was up 0.1 percentage points to 6.9 per cent.

The city-specific rates are measured by StatsCan as a three-month rolling average.

Despite the employment increase acrossAlberta, the total number of hours worked decreased by0.7 per cent in March, continuing a downward trend that began in early2015.

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