Briefing highlights
- EI recipents surge 57% in Alberta
- Bank of Canada warns of Trump hit
EI recipients up sharply in Alberta
Unemployment continues to plague Alberta, and shows few signs of easing.
The latest numbers on Employment Insurance from Statistics Canada show the number of EI recipients in the heart of the oil patch surged 57.4 per cent in November from a year earlier, to 96,890.
On a monthly basis, EI recipients rose 3.4 per cent in Alberta from October.
In Calgary, the number climbed 59 per cent to 32,470, and in Edmonton by 55.8 per cent to 31,540.
While Alberta is expected to rebound from the oil crash, climbing out of recession, the shock remains.
Indeed, according to the Bank of Canada’s latest monetary policy report, “the resource sector’s adjustment to past commodity price declines appears to be largely complete, but negative wealth and income effects will persist.”
Bank of Nova Scotia’s latest forecasts, released Tuesday, projected economic growth in Alberta of 2.1 per cent this, and 2.4 per cent in 2018.
While that’s a bounce back from last year’s contraction, Bank of Nova Scotia expects the jobless rate in Alberta, to hover just shy of 8 per cent in the next two years.
It now stands at 8.5 per cent.
Across Canada, the number of EI recipients rose 4.9 per cent in November from a year earlier, to 574,500.
Canada to take hit from U.S.: BoC
The Bank of Canada says the country’s economy will take a “material” hit from a more protectionist United States under Donald Trump, but the central bank isn’t ready to quantify the potential damage, The Globe and Mail’s Barrie McKenna reports.
The central bank and governor Stephen Poloz are in wait-and-see mode, opting to leave their key rate at 0.5 per cent in the face unusual uncertainty emanating from the U.S.
The bank “will continue to assess the impact of ongoing developments, mindful of the significant uncertainties weighing on the outlook,” according to a statement, issued two days before Mr. Trump is slated to be sworn in as U.S. President.