Alberta Has Best-Performing Labour Market In North America: Study

"Workers in Western Canada are enjoying the benefits of a healthy labour market, an indication of their strong economies," said Niels Veldhuis, co-author of the study and director of fiscal studies at the Fraser Institute. He noted that Alberta's impressive showing was due to relatively strong performance across all measures. "Ontario's ranking is notable only for being so average. Of particular concern is Ontario's relatively low rate of private sector job growth and relatively high unemployment," Veldhuis added. He pointed out that Quebec has experienced the second-worst performing labour market in Canada over the past five years. "High unemployment, lengthy spells of unemployment and low worker productivity continue to plague the province," Veldhuis said. The Atlantic provinces all ranked in the bottom half on labour market performance, with high average unemployment rates. "Atlantic provinces continue to experience the highest unemployment rates in North America," Veldhuis said. "Newfoundland's average unemployment rate was a staggering 15.8 per cent, more than double the Canadian average and three times that of Alberta over the five-year period." http://www.canada.com:80/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=2a629fca-f1ae-4a1e-929a-58b6a0c02257&k=18509 [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on August 31, 2007]

Note: http://www.canada.com:8...