Alberta job market holds firm despite plunging oil prices

WATCH: From surplus to deficit, Alberta is starting to feel the squeeze of low oil prices.

Diving crude prices have yet to suck the wind out of the job market in Alberta, the biggest driver of employment in Canada in recent years, with the oil-rich province creating thousands of new jobs last month in spite of the price collapse.

But headwinds are gathering, experts say.

Overall, the Canadian economy shed 4,300 jobs in December, a slight drop that left the unemployment rate unchanged at 6.6 per cent, Statistics Canada said Friday.

December was the second straight month the survey registered a modest decline in employment, but the decreases follow large increases in September and October.

The reading disappointed expectations among expert economy watchers. Economists had expected there would be 15,000 jobs added last month after a decline of about 10,000 in November.

Job numbers hold

Still, the print was a relief in one way — collapsing oil prices have yet to take a meaningful bite out of job rolls in Alberta and other energy-rich provinces that have been the biggest sources of employment growth over the past few years.

Employment in Alberta as well as Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, two other regions creating plenty of energy-related jobs, was “little changed” between November and December, Statscan said.

Employment in natural resource sectors, which includes the oil and gas sector as well as mining, forestry and fishing, was up 10,200 last month.

In total, Alberta, which has accounted for about a third of all job creation in 2014, added about 5,700 net new jobs in December. Unemployment rates in Calgary and Edmonton held around the 5.0 per cent mark.

“The slump in oil prices has yet to feed through,” David Madani, economist at Capital Economics in Toronto said in a research note.

MORE: Oil’s collapse sends shiver across Alberta’s real estate market

The net decline in jobs came entirely from part-time work. The latest Canadian labour-market survey says the economy’s gain of 53,500 full-time positions last month was more than offset by a drop of 57,700 part-time jobs.

The monthly data report says Canada added 185,700 new positions last year, with the bulk of the increase coming in the second half of 2014.

“Overall, a somewhat weak headline reading … but with the details providing some comfort,” Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC, said.

Pressure ahead

Before the release of the December reading, some experts were anticipating job losses from the energy sector as oil firms and suppliers grapple with a 55 per cent collapse in oil prices.

“Given the huge decline in oil prices, markets will be watching the energy sector readings closely for signs of cutbacks,” BMO economist Benjamin Reitzes said before the release of the December numbers.

While the December reading surprised to the upside for the sector, pressure in the energy patch — and elsewhere — is expected to be felt on the job front in the months ahead.

“The story for Canada is all about what lies ahead given the recent drop in energy prices, rather than the fourth quarter picture,” Shenfeld said.

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