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Alberta unemployment balloons to 15.5% in May with COVID-19 job losses

Stats Canada came out with unemployment numbers for May on Friday morning (June 5) and as expected things did not look good last month.

The Alberta jobless rate went up over two points to an unprecedented 15.5%. The May numbers show a second straight month of job losses fueled by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The agency though says the fact businesses are opening again and people are starting to go back to work should help somewhat turn the unemployment numbers around for June.

Meanwhile, the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat region saw a jump in the jobless rate in May as well to an even 9.0% Despite that, it’s the lowest in the province. The Banff region is experiencing the highest unemployment in Alberta right now at over 14%

The national picture isn’t much better. The Canadian jobless rate rose to 13.7% with 5.5 million people out of work across the country.

Alberta Jobless Rate by Region May 2020

Lethbridge-Medicine Hat: 9.0%
Camrose-Drumheller: 10.4%
Calgary: 13.2%
Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House: 14.1%
Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River: 14.1%
Red Deer: 12.7%
Edmonton: 13.8%
Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake: 9.9%

Patrick Siedlecki
Patrick Siedlecki
Pat has been a mainstay in the CJOC News department from the time the station launched in 2007. He's been in the position of News Director since then and has been anchoring daily news casts as well as reporting and working behind the scenes. Community is important to him and keeping CJOC listeners and readers informed about what's happening across southern Alberta and beyond. Pat has been in radio broadcasting for the past 24 years, starting in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in 1997 and then moving up island to Nanaimo for another few years before heading to Lethbridge in 2007. Pat grew up in the small Saskatchewan farming town of Foam Lake. After high school, he went to Western Academy Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon prior to moving to the island. Pat also spent several years broadcasting hockey in the BCHL as well as seven years as the radio voice of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. Pat has been working at Cornerstone Funeral Home in Lethbridge as a Certified Life Celebrant and Funeral Assistant since 2016. News and sports have always been Pat's passion from the time he was a teenager and he's always been grateful to have had the opportunity to make that part of what's been a fun and long radio career!
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