EDMONTON -- Edmonton's unemployment rate rose again in January, up to 8.2 per cent, the second highest of any major Canadian city behind only Windsor, Ont., according to new StatsCan data.

The Alberta capital's jobless number grew by 0.2 per cent from December 2019.

There were 15,300 more unemployed Edmontonians in January 2020 compared to the previous January, an increase of close to 28 per cent.

Calgary's January unemployment rate also rose by 0.1 per cent from the prior month, up to 7.2 per cent. Other employment trends in the city were relatively stable over the same timeframe.

Edmonton and Calgary's unemployment rates ranked as the second and sixth-highest among major Canadian cities for last month.

Across Alberta, the number of workers fell by 18,900 and the unemployment rate rose to 7.3 per cent, up from 7.0 per cent from December 2019.

StatsCan says the decrease was concentrated in part-time work. The monthly decline is the second in three months for the province.

The province's labour force also shrank by 13,500 workers over the month before.

The report also notes that 31,000 Alberta employees lost work hours due to the severe weather conditions that gripped the province for much of January.

"We know that Alberta is facing a very difficult economic situation, as it has been for over five years. Turning around the mess left by the previous government and harmful federal policies won’t happen overnight," UCP press secretary Jerrica Goodwin wrote in an email.

"Everyone knows lack of pipeline access is one of the biggest challenges our province is facing. We have seen some recent good news, with positive developments on Trans Mountain, Enbridge Line 3, and Keystone XL."

CANADA ADDS JOBS, LOWERS UNEMPLOYMENT

Across Canada, the national economy added 34,500 jobs in January, fuelled by gains in the manufacturing, construction and agriculture industries, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The increase in jobs came as the unemployment rate fell to 5.5 per cent compared with 5.6 per cent in December, according to the monthly labour force survey.



The goods-producing sector powered the job growth as it gained 49,100 jobs. The manufacturing group added 20,500 jobs for the month, while the construction subsector added 15,800. Agriculture added 11,500.

Meanwhile, the services-producing sector lost 14,500 jobs, weighed down by the loss of 16,000 jobs in the health care and social assistance subsector.

The gain in jobs for the month came as the number of full-time jobs rose by 35,700, while part-time employment fell by 1,200.

Regionally, Quebec added 19,100 jobs in January, while Manitoba added 6,500 jobs. New Brunswick added 4,600.

With files from the Canadian Press