Windsor’s Jobless Rate Down In January

January’s job numbers show Alberta is struggling under the weight of the energy downturn.

Robert Kavcic, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, said the StatCan survey shows the weakness in Alberta is now spreading to other sectors of its economy as the oil-price slump filters through.

In Saskatchewan, the unemployment rate moved up to 5.6 per cent from 5.5 per cent, as the economy shed 6,000 full-time jobs. January marked the first month since December 1988 that the Alberta unemployment rate exceeded the national rate.

The jobless rate in the energy-producing province of Alberta rose to 7.4 percent, the highest since February 1996. The country added 5,600 full-time jobs but lost 11,300 part-time positions.

Nationally, unemployment remained virtually unchanged at 7.2 per cent. For the second month in a row, Ontario was the only province in Canada to boast employment growth.

The biggest gains were in air craft and transportation equipment segment, which rose 26.4 per cent to $2.3 billion in December.

Manitoba lost 5,300 net jobs last month – an 0.8 per cent month-to-month drop compared to December.

Imports increased 1.6 per cent to $45.9 billion in december, following three consecutive monthly decreases.

The decline was not the result of job creation. Out of that total, 27,000 people have found jobs, while 17,000 are still searching for work.

Tombe notes the job losses over the past year have been concentrated among a a very few groups-mostly young men who have lower levels of education working in the resources, construction and manufacturing sectors. Ontario added twice that many, with 20,000 new jobs created.

Meanwhile, data from Statistics Canada released Friday showed that the country’s trade deficit with the world narrowed in December to 585 million Canadian dollars (421 US dollars) from 1.6 billion dollars in November (1.15 billion USA dollars).

“We continue to see the story where net exports are adding, at least modestly, to growth in Canada”, he said.