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The economic shift from West to East is accelerating, with another month of job losses in Alberta and gains in Ontario and trade numbers that show non-energy exports are gaining steam.

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Alberta lost 19,600 jobs last year — the most since 1982 and many industry veterans are deciding they can no longer take the boom and bust roller-coaster.





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Alberta lost 10,000 jobs in January as it continues to reel from the oil price shock. The province saw its unemployment rate hit 7.4 per cent for the month — the highest in 20 years — from 7 per cent in December.

Canada overall saw 5,700 job losses in January, which edged up the national unemployment rate to a two-year high of 7.2 per cent. Alberta’s unemployment rate is now higher than the national average for the first time since December 1988.

The numbers paint a picture of an economy being reshaped by the steep fall in oil prices, which have fallen some 70 per cent from the summer of 2014. As energy jobs are being shed in provinces such as Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, low oil prices and a low loonie are showing evidence of finally invigorating less energy-dependent provinces and sectors such as manufacturing.