Unemployment in Canada was a problem for fewer people in April this year, according to figures released by Statistics Canada.

The federal agency said the rate was the lowest it’s been in 21 years.

453,100 people were receiving the wage insurance payments, down 100,200 from the same time the year before, a drop of 18 per cent.

The national unemployment rate, which was down in every province, went from 6.5 per cent down to 5.8 per cent, a record low over the 12-month period.

The prairie province of Alberta was one of the most dramatic cases where the people collecting benefits dropped 29 per cent over the last year.

Alberta had been hit hard by the drop in oil prices, but the recent rally in the global markets has put people back to work in the province.

And for the first time since 2011, real gross domestic product increased in every province.