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Group layoffs in Alberta have soared to more than 14,000 people as of the end of September with the oilpatch taking up a lion’s share of that growing total.

Pam Sharpe, spokesperson for Alberta’s Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour ministry, said the government received 15 layoff notices — affecting 2,170 employees — in September.

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There have been 96 layoff notices so far in 2015, affecting 14,472 workers in Alberta.

Of the 14,472 employees affected this year, approximately 75 per cent are related to the downturn in the energy sector, said Sharpe.

Companies are required to give the provincial government four weeks’ written notice of their intention to terminate the employment of 50 or more employees at a single location within a four-week period.

For all of 2014, the province received 35 notices involving 7,508 employees.

There has been a recent wave of layoffs as the province grapples with continuing low oil prices.

In August, Alberta’s unemployment rate was six per cent, which was up from 5.2 per cent a year ago. Calgary’s unemployment rate has gone from 5.3 per cent to 6.6 per cent.

According to the latest Alberta Economic Outlook Q4 2015 report by ATB Financial, oil and gas jobs, as well as the category labelled professional, engineers and others — which includes engineers and geologists — have seen significant job losses in the province this year. Employment in resource extraction is down by 22,000 while jobs in the professions have decreased by 16,100.