Alberta business calendar: jobs, jobs, jobs

There were a lot of job cuts intheenergy sector in September. TransCanada. Cenovus, Penn West,PHX Energy, Conoco Phillips, andTransAlta are just a few of the big names that reported layoffs in the month, with losses adding up to more than 2,000 positions.

• Alberta has lost 35,000 oilpatch jobs, petroleum producers say
• Crossfield feels the pinch as oilpatch layoffs continue

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said that 35,000 oil patch jobs have been lost over the past year.

However, Alberta's job market has been flexible. While it'sbeenshedding jobs inoil and gas, it hasaddedthem in the service and public sector. Over the past year, there's been a net addition of 41,000 jobs in Alberta.

The province's unemployment rate has gone up to sixper cent, but according to Statistics Canada, that's because more people have entered the job market looking for work.

At the same time, Albertans' wages have started to drop, as people move from higher paying energy jobs to those with lower salaries.

The official numbers show thatnonoil and gas sectors of the economy have absorbed much of the losses from the energy sector.

OnFriday, Stats Can will release the officialjob numbers for September, which will show if that trend continued.