Calgary’s streak as Canadian city with highest unemployment rate hits 6 months

Calgary’s unemployment rate has been the highest of any major urban area in Canada for half a year.

According to new numbers from Statistics Canada’s released on Friday, the jobless rate in the oil and gas hub dropped to 10.2 per cent last month compared with 10.3 per cent in November – the worst among the 33 metropolitan areas surveyed.

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The only silver lining was that in December, Calgary broke its streak of month-to-month unemployment rate increases, which had been in place since June 2016.

A look at Calgary’s unemployment rate history:

  June 2016 – 8.3 per cent (compared to 8.1 per cent in May)

  July 2016 – 8.6 per cent (Calgary’s unemployment rate becomes worst in Canada)

  August 2016 – 9 per cent

  September 2016 – 9.5 per cent

 October 2016 – 10.2 per cent

 November 2016 – 10.3 per cent

 December 2016 – 10.2 per cent

Statistics Canada reported the national unemployment rate was 6.9 per cent in December, a slight climb from the 6.8 per cent recorded in November 2016.

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In Alberta, the unemployment rate stayed steady at nine per cent

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