Article content

Employment in Alberta held steady in March, according to new data from Statistics Canada.

While job numbers remain down year-over-year (3.5 per cent), they were essentially unchanged from February, according to the federal agency, with 1,988,200 jobs reported in the province.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Alberta employment numbers hold steady in March Back to video

Average weekly earnings rose slightly from February — about 0.5 per cent — at $1,129.08. But like the overall job numbers they, too, were down from March 2015 (2.2 per cent). Earnings in the province have been trending lower since January 2015.

StatsCan said the annual decline was “spread across the majority of sectors, particularly in construction and wholesale trade.”

Nationally, employment was up 0.9 per cent year-over-year. Average weekly earnings across the country were $960.30, a 0.7 per cent increase from March 2015.