Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - September 2010
A new study has found that from 2005 to 2009, Alberta was the top place for employment in all of North America.
The study, conducted by the Fraser Institute, found that the Western provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan in particular, had the best labour market numbers in Canada for that time period. Saskatchewan came in third overall in North America.
However, Alberta stood far out over the competition, boasting the highest numbers of employment growth in public sector, the second highest growth in the private sector, and the lowest in unemployment. Overall, these numbers helped propel it to the top ranking among 60 regions across Canada and the U.S.
"The main factor is Alberta's investment climate -- the fact that Alberta has among the provinces the best policies to attract investment and therefore the best policies that create jobs, lower, unemployment, increase productivity and all of the things that go into a high-performing labour market," said co-author of the study Niels Veldhuis, who is with the Fraser Institute's department of Canadian policy research.
Officials in Alberta are not surprised at the news of the ranking.
"It reaffirms what we in Alberta knew intuitively and what other variables were indicating to us," said Alberta Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk. "The fact is that even during the time of global recession western provinces, in particular Alberta and Saskatchewan, were still considered to be beacons in prosperity. And you saw that in unemployment rates, you saw that in internal migration within the country, you saw that in employment rates and now recently you saw it in the rate of recovery."
Recently Alberta officials announced that over the past year they saw drops in unemployment rates and growth in the labour force, as the province continues to recover from the global recession.
Source: Calgary Herald
