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Upwards of 8,000 new jobs were created in the Calgary area in the past year, but a declining labour force has some economists worried that some have given up trying to find work in a struggling Alberta economy.

An average of 893,000 people were employed in the Calgary Economic Region in 2018, up from 884,000 a year before, according to the city’s 2018 labour market review.

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But compared to 2017, the number of people not in the labour force grew by 24,000.

The region’s unemployment rate was 7.6 per cent last year, higher than the rate of 6.6 per cent throughout Alberta and 5.9 per cent across Canada.

The unemployment rate measures the number of people who are actually in the workforce and don’t have jobs. To be in the workforce, someone without a job must declare that they are actively seeking employment.

There were 367,000 people not in the labour force in the Calgary region in 2018, compared to 343,000 in 2017.