The Illusion of Alberta’s Jobs Recovery

The recent growth in government sector Research suggests that the increase in gov- employment began in July 2014 and has con- ernment sector employment, and the decline in tinued through the latest month of available private sector employment, will translate into data at the time of writing (May 2018). [...] Statistics Canada broadly defines the govern- The bulletin begins by describing employment ment sector—which includes federal, provin- trends in Alberta; it gives particular attention cial, and local governments—to include crown to the contrast between the growth in govern- corporations and government-funded estab- ment sector employment and the decline in lishments such as schools and hospitals; [...] Trends in government sector employment from August 2008 to July 2009, the second is from October 2011 to November 2012, and the To get a sense of the longer-term trend from third is from July 2014 to May 2018. [...] Interest- the various components that make up total em- ingly, the start of first and third periods corre- ployment, figure 3 displays data on Alberta’s sponds roughly with the beginning of a reces- government sector employment, private sec- sion in Alberta, while the second period took tor employment, and self-employment over place in a time of economic growth.4 The most the 10-year period from M [...] This presentation allows us to more First, the duration of the upward trend in gov- clearly observe the change in the respective ernment sector employment growth is much data series over time.