Alberta unemployment rate falls to lowest level in nearly 2 years

Alberta's unemployment rate fell to 7.3 per cent in November, its lowest level in nearly two years.

But Statistics Canada said the monthly swing was mainly due to fewer people looking for work, as employment levels stayed relatively flat compared to October.

Year-over-year job growth in the province totalled 34,000 jobs, all in full-time work, the federal data agency said.

On a national level, Canada far surpassed expectations and added 80,000 jobs in November.

That drove the national jobless rate down to 5.9 per cent the lowest level since February 2008.

Calgary and Edmonton

In Alberta's largest cities, the unemployment rate also came down sharply.

Unemployment fell by half a percentage point in Calgary to 7.8 per cent, down from its peak of 10.2 per cent one year ago.

Edmonton's rate fell by 0.4 percentage points and also stood at 7.8 per cent in November.

These arethe 10metropolitan areas with the highest unemployment rates:

• St. John's: 8.5%
• Calgary: 7.8%
• Edmonton: 7.8%
• Saskatoon: 7.6%
• Halifax: 7.2%
• St. Catharines - Niagara: 7.1%
• Saint John: 6.8%
• Guelph: 6.7%
• Montreal: 6.6%
• Moncton: 6.3%

The city-specific numbers are based on a three-month rolling average.

All of the data comes from Statistics Canada's monthly Labour Force Survey,which estimates the number of people working full-time, part-time and looking for work.