Alberta unemployment rate reaches 7%, almost 15000 jobs lost

The New England unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.6% in October.

Alberta lost 15,000 jobs in the month, and its unemployment rate rose four ticks to 7 per cent - the highest the province has seen since April, 2010, when Canada was still recovering from the financial crisis.

The worse-than-expected drop in jobs helped nudge November's unemployment rate up one-10th of a percentage point to 7.1%.

"The November decline in public administration was seen across all provinces", Statistics Canada said in the report.

Nationally, the economy shed 35,700 jobs in November which led to a rise in the unemployment rate to 7.1% from October's 7%. "Similar movements in this occupation group were observed during previous federal elections and censuses".

Across the country, the federal agency reported that employment decreased by 36,000 (-0.2 per cent) in November, the result of losses in part-time work.

"Disability applications and educational enrollments typically are affected by cyclical factors, and existing evidence suggests that the elevated levels of both may partly reflect perceptions of poor job prospects", Yellen said in a speech previous year.

Still, Canada's overall labour force has grown 135,000 positions between January and November this year, compared to 132,600 during the same period last year.

Monthly job numbers released by Statscan on Friday illustrate Canada's emergent "two-speed" economy, where low oil prices are harming some regions, while conditions are improving in areas outside the energy and resource sectors.

According to government figures, average hourly wages increased 0.2% month-on-month in November, in line with consensus but slightly below the 0.4% gain registered in October. That drop in the number of jobs was the biggest decline from October to November of any province.