Alberta leads job creation despite secession talks

 

 

While the debate over secession from Canada continues to rage in Alberta, the province's job market has been a driving force in the country's economic development. According to the latest employment figures released by Statistics Canada, Alberta accounted for eight out of ten new jobs created across Canada over the past year. While other provinces in the country have slowed down in job growth, Alberta's private sector has led the way in this huge advance.

Of the 99,000 new jobs created across Canada over the past 12 months, Alberta contributed 78,500 of them. Most of these were in sectors such as health care, social assistance and construction. Economists point out that mass immigration from other provinces and population growth have helped create so many new service and employment opportunities in Alberta. As of June, the number of people employed in Alberta had risen three per cent from a year earlier to 2.67 million.

While Alberta has become the country’s economic engine, discussions about secession from Canada have been active in provincial politics due to strong disagreements with the federal government. The main reason for this is dissatisfaction with the federal government’s use of their tax money to develop other provinces. However, current figures show that these political disputes have not affected the province’s industry, and Alberta remains Canada’s strongest employer.