Alberta

The employment rate in Alberta hits a record high

• Alberta has consistently enjoyed the highest employment rates in Canada over the past three decades and in 2003, the province's employment rate hit a record high of 69.6%. The high came on the heels of strong job growth, which has averaged a healthy 3.0% per year since 1993, when the most recent upward trend in employment started.
• In 2003, the number of jobs increased by 48,000 (+2.9%) in Alberta. Employment in the forestry, fishing, mining, oil and gas sector increased by 10,000 from 2002 to 2003 with gains concentrated in mining, oil and gas extraction. Employment was also up in a number of other sectors during that period, such as trade (+11,000) and agriculture (+7,000).
• The participation rate rose to a record high of 73.4% in 2003. At the same time, job gains were strong enough to push the unemployment rate down 0.2 percentage point to 5.1%.

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