The latest Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey shows that unemployment is down across the country, with the national rate edging down to 8.1 per cent. More people are working and that is always good news! One anomaly to this trend is that in Calgary, unemployment is actually on the rise. What gives? Global Television Calgary invited BOWEN to comment on the somewhat puzzling trend and my colleague, Debbie Wershler did the interview. You can check it out here While we don’t fully understand why the number of jobs are down in Calgary overall, it’s important to keep everything in perspective. Let me share a few highlights of what we are seeing in our day-to-day business at BOWEN:

• We are not seeing major layoffs.
• Employers are still hiring and our economy is rebounding slowly.
• Employers are more willing to hire temporary or contract workers because they are cautious to not over-commit to employees with permanent jobs.
• We typically see the number of jobs increasing over the summer months due seasonal project work, and this should be reflected in May’s numbers.
• There are some big infrastructure projects in Calgary that are just ramping up and the employment impact may not yet be evident in the statistics.
• Investment is also happening in operating areas outside of Calgary, such as oil sands expansion projects in the north, and jobs are being created in Alberta, which means new opportunities for Calgary residents willing to relocate.