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Group layoffs affected 17,579 Albertans in 2015 — soaring by 134 per cent over 2014 numbers, according to provincial government data.

There were 116 group layoffs in the province in 2015. Employers 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.

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In 2014, there were only 35 notices received, affecting 7,508 people.

Shirley Lin, a spokesperson for the province’s Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour Ministry, said 78 per cent of group layoffs in 2015 involved layoffs in the oil and gas sector and related businesses.

The province received the most notices in March 2015, with 16. January saw the most layoffs, with 4,266 people.

Officials in November reported that more than 18,000 people were affected in mass to that point in 2015 — a spokesman explained that one employer had previously submitted a layoff notice calling for more layoffs than were actually made.

More pain in the Calgary and Alberta labour market is expected in the coming months, said Todd Hirsch, chief economist with ATB Financial.



“With these oil prices where they’re at I think a lot of the energy companies just sort of took a break over the holidays. Who wants a pink slip on Christmas Eve?,” said Hirsch. “I’m almost certain that we’re going to see more (layoffs) between now and Easter anyway at least until these oil prices stabilize. They really haven’t appeared to.”



At one point Thursday morning the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil dipped below US$33 per barrel.



“To me, that just says that the market still hasn’t found a bottom on these prices. At around Christmas time it looked like maybe they had around $37 but now there doesn’t appear that there is a bottom yet,” he said. “Even when prices jump up – and they can jump up $2 – to me that says there’s no bottom yet because prices don’t move around that much when the market has found some directions.”



On Friday, Statistics Canada will be releasing its December and year-end Labour Force Survey.



Hirsch said he is expecting the overall employment number for Alberta to be down.



In November, Alberta’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was seven per cent, which was the highest since April 2010. The rate was up by 0.4 percentage points from October and by 2.6 percentage points from the same month last year.



The Alberta government said the province’s labour force decreased from the previous month by 5,500 people in November and employment decreased by 14,900. Full-time employment increased by 9,900 and part-time employment decreased by 24,800 over the same period.



Between November 2014 and November 2015, the labour force increased by 63,600 and employment decreased by 2,300, it said.

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