Some very good news on the local jobs front Friday.
Stats Canada says the unemployment rate in the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat region fell to 4.9% in November.
That’s a big drop from 6.4% in October.
In fact, this is the biggest month-over-month drop in the local jobless rate in a very long time.
When it comes to Alberta though, not good news. Provincially, the jobless jumped half a percentage point to 7.2% with the loss of 18,000 jobs.
From a national perspective the Canadian economy shed over 71,000 jobs in November as the overall unemployment jumped to 5.9%.
That’s the highest it’s been since August of 2018.
Alberta Jobless Rate by Region Nov. 2019
Lethbridge-Medicine Hat: 4.9%
Camrose-Drumheller: 3.7%
Calgary: 6.7%
Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House: 5.7%
Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River: 5.7%
Red Deer: 6.5%
Edmonton: 7.0%
Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake: 4.3%