Alberta responsible for nearly 80 per cent of all new jobs in Canada
There were 2,677,300 people employed in Alberta as of last month, up three per cent from last year, while total employment across Canada grew by only 0.5 per cent.
Author: Quinn Patrick
Alberta accounted for nearly 80 per cent of all jobs created across Canada over the last year, despite being home to only 12 per cent of the country’s total population.
According to Statistics Canada’s latest job report, the province has added 78,500 jobs in the past 12 months. That accounts for the overwhelming majority of the 99,000 total that was added across Canada.
The Labour Force Survey also noted that the vast majority of those jobs were in the private sector. Only 17,500 of the province’s 78,500 additional jobs were for public-sector positions.
There were 2,677,300 people employed in Alberta as of last month, up three per cent from last year, while total employment across Canada grew by only 0.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, Quebec and British Columbia shed a combined total of 67,000 jobs over that same period.
Ontario saw an uptick of roughly 65,000 new hires, but that marked a modest gain of less than one per cent for Canada’s most populated province. The majority of jobs lost, however, were in the labour sector as the province’s construction industry remains stagnant at best.
A large reason for Alberta’s success is tied to its growing population, as many Canadians have decided to move there in recent years. Calgary has repeatedly been Canada’s fastest-growing city.
Much of the draw for people is affordability compared to other major cities such as Toronto and Vancouver.
For example, the median price for a single detached home in Toronto is $1.2 million - in Calgary, it’s $700,000. In addition to better housing prices, Alberta has also led Canada in per capita housing starts both in 2025 and 2024.
About two-thirds of Alberta’s added jobs were in health care and social assistance industries, while employment in the province’s “forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas” sectors saw a decline of 4.6 per cent year over year.