The federal government released their September 2025 job numbers yesterday, and job numbers are up in Alberta.

The net decrease to jobs between last month and August was 42,500. Keep in mind that in July and August, we saw a combined decrease of 30,800, so this increase is more like 11,300. Not only that, but since the start of 2025, Alberta has seen a net gain of just 30,500 jobs.

Among workers 25 years of age and older, men saw the largest increase between August and September. There were 18,900 more men over 25 at work last month compared to August. Those numbers improve to a gain of 33,600 if you include those who are 15–24 years old.

Men lost a combined 39,600 jobs in July and August.

Women, however, saw an increase of 10,300 in those 25 years old and older finding new work compared to those working in August. When you add in the younger cohort, it drops to to an 8,800 increase.

Statistics Canada provided no data on non-binary or intersex workers.

Here’s how Alberta’s job numbers compare to the other provinces:

Aug 2025Sep 2025Change AB 2,563,100 2,605,600 42,500 ON 8,191,000 8,199,800 8,800 BC 2,936,900 2,944,700 7,800 NB 401,200 405,900 4,700 MB 736,200 740,100 3,900 NS 524,100 525,400 1,300 SK 621,000 620,300 -700 PEI 93,800 92,900 -900 NL 242,900 240,700 -2,200 QC 4,644,500 4,639,800 -4,700

Alberta had the largest increase in jobs among all the provinces, with 42,500 jobs added, as mentioned earlier. Ontario came in second, with 8,800 new jobs, followed by BC at 7,800.

Québec had the largest decrease, losing 4,700 jobs, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island, at 2,200 and 900, respectively.

12 industries in Alberta actually saw an increase in jobs in September. Of those, construction had the highest gains: 8,400.

The 4 remaining sectors reported by Statistics Canada saw job losses, with the “transportation and warehousing” sector losing the most, at 8,100 jobs:

Transportation & warehousing -8,100 Information, culture & recreation -7,100 Accommodation & food services -3,400 Finance, insurance, real estate, rental & leasing -3,300

Combined, these 4 industries lost 21,900 jobs.

Labour Force Survey in brief: Interactive app, Statistics Canada

Compared to a year ago, the industry with the highest job gains was “educational services”, increasing by over 24,000 jobs, a jump of 14.89%.

The “forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil & gas” sector saw the largest decrease over the last year, losing 16,500 jobs, which was about 10.31%. They had the largest annual decrease in July and August, too.

Sep 2024Sep 2025Change% change Educational services 162,500 186,700 24,200 14.89% Public administration 125,300 139,800 14,500 11.57% Health care & social assistance 333,000 347,300 14,300 4.29% Finance, insurance, real estate, rental & leasing 134,700 146,900 12,200 9.06% Construction 243,800 255,900 12,100 4.96% Accommodation & food services 144,300 152,900 8,600 5.96% Transportation & warehousing 141,000 149,300 8,300 5.89% Agriculture 34,000 41,000 7,000 20.59% Business, building & other support services 78,100 84,700 6,600 8.45% Professional, scientific & technical services 243,200 249,700 6,500 2.67% Utilities 18,600 24,600 6,000 32.26% Information, culture & recreation 82,900 86,900 4,000 4.83% Other services (except public administration) 100,000 98,600 -1,400 -1.40% Manufacturing 150,500 146,100 -4,400 -2.92% Wholesale & retail trade 358,300 351,800 -6,500 -1.81% Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil & gas 160,000 143,500 -16,500 -10.31%

The report from Statistics Canada also shows that Alberta’s private sector grew by 24,800 between August and September. There were 28,300 more private-sector jobs as there were this time last year.

In contrast, public sector jobs were up by 7,800 over August, and Alberta had 51,600 more public sector workers compared to September 2024.

Self employed jobs were up by 9,800 over August and up by 15,600 over September 2024.

Part-time jobs grew last month. Alberta gained 23,500 part-time jobs (seasonally adjusted) between August and September.

In contrast, Alberta gained 18,800 full-time jobs during the same period, short of making up for the 38,400 full-time jobs they lost in July, even if we add in the 9,600 jobs gained in August. So far, in 2025, however, we have had a net gain of 17,800 full-time jobs.

These full-time gains last month were mostly men workers (17,700), with only 1,200 more women working full-time. The part-time jobs were a gain for both men (1,200) and women (7,600).

In June 2019, the month before the Job Creation Tax Cut came into effect, there were 1,886,700 people working full-time. Last month, there were 2,138,200. That means that there are 251,500 more full-time jobs than there were before the UCP cut the tax on corporate profits.

While more full-time jobs does seem like a good thing, let’s take a look at how much of a percentage of total jobs are full-time jobs. In June 2019, full-time jobs made up 82.50% of all jobs in the province.

Last month, they were at 82.06%, meaning that in the 6 years since the UCP government introduced the so-called Job Creation Tax Cut, the percentage of Alberta workers being employed in full-time positions has not increased.

In fact, there were only a handful of times during 2023 when this number passed 82.5%, but it was always only marginally and came right back down the following month. And only once in 2024 (July) did it pass the mark. June and August were the only months in 2025, so far, that it has risen above 82.5%.

Speaking of full-time jobs, median wages for full-time workers in Alberta grew by 1.27¢, from $34.07 in August to $53.34 last month, reaching a new high.

Part-time wages remained unchanged at $19.00 an hour, marking 3 months in a row it has not moved.

The median wage for both full-time and part-time jobs grew from $31.96 in August to $32.00 last month, 81¢ behind British Columbia, putting Alberta in second place, tied with Ontario.

Alberta had the second highest median full-time hourly wage in September 2025, 21¢ behind BC and 55¢ ahead of Ontario.

BC $35.55 AB $35.34 ON $35.00 QC $33.22 SK $31.50 NL $31.00 NS $30.00 PEI $29.33 NB $28.95 MB $28.85

Alberta was tied with Québec for the fourth largest increase in median hourly wages for full-time wages over the past 12 months, down from second highest in July.

Sep 2024Sep 2025Change NS $27.78 $30.00 $2.22 PEI $27.50 $29.33 $1.83 ON $33.65 $35.00 $1.35 AB $34.12 $35.34 $1.22 QC $32.00 $33.22 $1.22 NL $30.00 $31.00 $1.00 MB $28.00 $28.85 $0.85 NB $28.37 $28.95 $0.58 BC $35.00 $35.55 $0.55 SK $31.00 $31.50 $0.50

For part-time workers, Alberta had the third highest median hourly wage, behind BC, Ontario, and Québec.

BC $23.00 ON $20.00 QC $20.00 AB $19.00 SK $18.75 NS $18.50 NB $18.00 NL $18.00 PEI $17.50 MB $17.50

Alberta drops to last place when we look at median hourly part-time wages over the last year.

Sep 2024Sep 2025Change ON $18.50 $20.00 $1.50 BC $22.00 $23.00 $1.00 NB $17.00 $18.00 $1.00 NL $17.05 $18.00 $0.95 NS $18.00 $18.50 $0.50 QC $20.00 $20.00 $0.00 PEI $17.50 $17.50 $0.00 MB $17.64 $17.50 -$0.14 SK $19.00 $18.75 -$0.25 AB $19.54 $19.00 -$0.54

By industry, Alberta wages increased in 7 of the 16 reported sectors. They remained unchanged in 4 and decreased in the other 5.

Aug 2025Sep 2025Change Utilities $51.25 $55.00 $3.75 Other services (except public administration) $25.15 $28.60 $3.45 Agriculture $27.69 $30.00 $2.31 Public administration $43.71 $45.12 $1.41 Finance, insurance, real estate, rental & leasing $38.00 $39.18 $1.18 Construction $36.00 $36.50 $0.50 Information, culture and recreation $23.50 $23.75 $0.25 Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil & gas $52.00 $52.00 $0.00 Manufacturing $30.20 $30.20 $0.00 Business, building & other support services $23.00 $23.00 $0.00 Accommodation & food services $17.00 $17.00 $0.00 Health care & social assistance $29.00 $28.60 -$0.40 Wholesale & retail trade $23.50 $23.08 -$0.42 Professional, scientific & technical services $42.31 $41.83 -$0.48 Transportation & warehousing $35.00 $33.00 -$2.00 Educational services $41.59 $38.46 -$3.13

Alberta saw its unemployment rate drop to 7.8%. It was 8.4% in August, 7.8% in July, 6.8% in June, 7.4% in May, 7.1% in March and April, and 6.7% in December and the first 2 months of 2025.

Alberta’s labour force increased last month, by 26,700. With having 42,500 more people actually working but only 26,700 more people available to work than in August, it makes sense that our unemployment decreased as much a it did.

As far as how it compares with the rest of the country, Alberta’s unemployment rate was the fourth highest, behind Newfoundland and Labrador (10.6%), PEI (9.7%), and Ontario (7.8%).

All but 4 provinces saw an unemployment rate increase last month, but Alberta saw the largest decrease in its unemployment rate, which is a nice change from having the largest increase in July and August.

Canada saw an increase in employment last month, with jobs across the country rising by 60,400. Those gains were driven primarily by Alberta (42,500).

The national unemployment rate remained at 7.1%, up from the 6.9% it was at in July, and higher than it was in the previous 3 months, too.

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