Alberta unemployment up amid a decline in manufacturing, wholesale and retail

Oil prices are plummeting as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs kick in and create massive uncertainty for Alberta’s economic future.

Alberta’s unemployment rate saw a notable jump last month.

Statistics Canada released its March 2025 Labour Force Survey on Friday, which showed Alberta’s jobless rate sitting at 7.1 per cent compared to 6.7 per cent the month prior.

The new statistics mean Alberta has the third-highest unemployment rate in the country, behind Newfoundland and Labrador (10 per cent), Prince Edward Island (7.5 per cent) and Ontario (7.5 per cent).

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According to the report, employment in Alberta fell by 15,000 (-0.6 per cent), following two months of little change and a cumulative increase of 54,000 (+2.1 per cent) in November and December 2024.

The employment decline in the province was concentrated in manufacturing (-11,000; -7.5 per cent) and wholesale and retail trade (-9,200; -2.5 per cent), according to the report.

Alberta was one of only two provinces that saw employment fall; declines were also recorded in Ontario (-28,000; -0.3 per cent), while most other provinces saw little change.

Looking at Alberta cities, Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge saw unemployment remain steady, while Red Deer recorded a large drop.

Edmonton’s unemployment rate was 7.2 per cent in March compared to 7.1 per cent in February.

Calgary sat at 7.2 per cent last month, compared to 7.3 per cent the month prior.

Lethbridge numbers

Lethbridge was 5.1 percent in March compared to an even five percent in February.

The biggest gain came from growth in the professional, scientific and technical services sector, which grew by 900 jobs.

The city’s manufacturing sector lost 500 jobs in March, in the biggest decline seen by any sector that month.

The loss of manufacturing jobs comes as the Canada-U.S. trade war causes some manufacturers to scale back production.

“I think tariffs – or the threat of tariffs, at least, because many of those job losses occurred before tariffs were in place, but certainly the threat is causing local manufacturers to really think twice about their capacity, and potentially even pull back on the number of shifts in the number of people they employ,” said Economic Development Lethbridge CEO Trevor Lewington.

In Red Deer, unemployment fell to 8.5 per cent from 9.6 per cent.

The national unemployment rate was 6.7 per cent.

The March Labour Force Survey examined the week of March 9 to 15, 2025.

- With files from Quinn Keenan