The federal government released their October 2025 job numbers yesterday, and job numbers are up in Alberta.
The net increase to jobs between last month and September was 10,300. Since the start of 2025, Alberta has seen a net gain of just 40,800 jobs.
Among workers 25 years of age and older, women saw the largest increase between September and October. There were 3,400 more women over 25 at work last month compared to September. Those numbers improve to a gain of 12,800 if you include those who are 15–24 years old.
Men, however, saw an increase of 2,500 in the number of those 25 years old and older finding new work compared to those working in September. When you add in the younger cohort, it drops to to an 2,400 decrease.
Statistics Canada provided no data on non-binary or intersex workers.
Here’s how Alberta’s job numbers compare to the other provinces:
Sep 2025Oct 2025Change% changeON8,199,8008,254,30054,5000.66%QC4,639,8004,651,30011,5000.25%AB2,605,6002,615,90010,3000.40%NL240,700245,1004,4001.83%PEI92,90093,3004000.43%SK620,300618,900-1,400-0.23%NB405,900404,200-1,700-0.42%BC2,944,7002,941,800-2,900-0.10%MB740,100736,100-4,000-0.54%NS525,400521,000-4,400-0.84%
Ontario had the largest increase in jobs among all the provinces, with 54,500 jobs added. Québec came in second, with 11,500 new jobs, followed by Alberta at 10,300.
Nova Scotia had the largest decrease, losing 4,400 jobs, followed by Manitoba and British Columbia, at 4,000 and 2,900, respectively.
8 industries in Alberta actually saw an increase in jobs in October. Of those, “wholesale and retail trade” had the highest gains: 12,700.
The 8 remaining sectors reported by Statistics Canada saw job losses, with the “educational services” sector losing the most, at 11,600 jobs:
Educational services-11,600Health care & social assistance-6,600Finance, insurance, real estate, rental & leasing-3,000Agriculture-2,700Construction-1,500Other services (except public administration)-700Business, building & other support services-400Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil & gas-100
Combined, these 4 industries lost 26,600 jobs.
Labour Force Survey in brief: Interactive app, Statistics Canada
Compared to a year ago, the industry with the highest job gains was “public administration”, increasing by over 25,000 jobs, a jump of 21.6%.
The “forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil & gas” sector saw the largest decrease over the last year, losing 12,300 jobs, which was about 7.9%. This marks 4 months in a row where they have seen the largest year-over-year decrease of all sectors.
Oct 2024Oct 2025Change% changePublic administration118,500144,10025,60021.60%Wholesale & retail trade350,400364,50014,1004.02%Transportation & warehousing139,700151,50011,8008.45%Accommodation & food services143,000154,50011,5008.04%Educational services164,300175,10010,8006.57%Finance, insurance, real estate, rental & leasing134,500143,9009,4006.99%Utilities19,50028,4008,90045.64%Health care & social assistance331,800340,7008,9002.68%Information, culture & recreation86,80093,6006,8007.83%Professional, scientific & technical services247,000252,5005,5002.23%Construction250,300254,4004,1001.64%Agriculture34,50038,3003,80011.01%Business, building & other support services83,30084,3001,0001.20%Other services (except public administration)102,80097,900-4,900-4.77%Manufacturing156,800148,900-7,900-5.04%Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil & gas155,700143,400-12,300-7.90%
The report from Statistics Canada also shows that Alberta’s private sector grew by 9,500 between September and October. There were 17,100 more private-sector jobs as there were this time last year.
In contrast, public sector jobs were down by 1,700 over September, and Alberta had 54,300 more public sector workers compared to October 2024.
Self employed jobs were up by 2,600 over August and up by 25,700 over September 2024.
Part-time jobs grew last month. Alberta gained 13,300 part-time jobs (seasonally adjusted) between September and October.
In contrast, Alberta lost 2,900 full-time jobs during the same period. So far, in 2025, we have had a net gain of 14,900 full-time jobs.
These full-time losses last month were all men workers (11,800), with 8,900 more women working full-time. The part-time jobs were a gain for both men (9,500) and women (3,900).
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 2,135,300. That means that there are 248,600 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 81.63%, 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 shrunk by 34¢, from $35.34 in September to $53.00 last month.
Part-time wages remained increased from $19.00 an hour in September to $19.50 in October, the highest it has been since June.
The median wage for both full-time and part-time jobs grew remained unchanged from September at $32.00 last month, $1.20 behind British Columbia and 20¢ behind Ontario, putting Alberta in third place.
Alberta had the third highest median full-time hourly wage in September 2025, 90¢ behind BC and 52¢ behind Ontario.
BC$35.90ON$35.52AB$35.00QC$33.33SK$31.77NL$31.10NS$30.00PEI$29.76NB$29.00MB$28.85
Alberta had the second smallest increase in median hourly wages for full-time wages over the past 12 months, down from second highest in July.
Oct 2024Oct 2025ChangePEI$27.00$29.76$2.76NS$28.00$30.00$2.00ON$34.07$35.52$1.45QC$32.00$33.33$1.33BC$34.62$35.90$1.28NL$30.07$31.10$1.03MB$28.36$28.85$0.49NB$28.57$29.00$0.43AB$34.62$35.00$0.38SK$31.50$31.77$0.27
For part-time workers, Alberta had the third highest median hourly wage, behind BC and Québec.
BC$22.40QC$20.38AB$19.50NS$19.00ON$19.00SK$18.86MB$18.45NL$18.00PEI$18.00NB$17.50
Alberta is also in third place when we look at the change in median hourly part-time wages over the last year.
Oct 2024Oct 2025ChangeNS$18.00$19.00$1.00NL$17.05$18.00$0.95AB$19.00$19.50$0.50MB$18.00$18.45$0.45BC$22.00$22.40$0.40QC$20.00$20.38$0.38ON$19.00$19.00$0.00SK$19.00$18.86-$0.14PEI$18.50$18.00-$0.50NB$18.00$17.50-$0.50
By industry, Alberta wages increased in 9 of the 16 reported sectors. They remained unchanged in 2 and decreased in the other 5.
Sep 2025Oct 2025ChangeUtilities$55.00$59.62$4.62Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas$52.00$55.29$3.29Business, building and other support services$23.00$25.00$2.00Manufacturing$30.20$31.93$1.73Public administration$45.12$46.67$1.55Information, culture and recreation$23.75$25.00$1.25Transportation and warehousing$33.00$34.20$1.20Construction$36.50$37.50$1.00Health care and social assistance$28.60$29.33$0.73Agriculture8$30.00$30.00$0.00Accommodation and food services$17.00$17.00$0.00Other services (except public administration)$28.60$28.57-$0.03Wholesale and retail trade$23.08$23.00-$0.08Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing$39.18$38.46-$0.72Professional, scientific and technical services$41.83$41.02-$0.81Educational services$38.46$36.26-$2.20
Alberta saw its unemployment rate remain unchanged at 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 11,600. With having 10,300 more people actually working but 11,600 more people available to work than in September, it makes sense that our unemployment rate failed to budge.
As far as how it compares with the rest of the country, Alberta’s unemployment rate was the fourth highest, behind Newfoundland and Labrador (10.1%), PEI (8.5%), and New Brunswick (7.9%).
8 provinces saw an unemployment rate increase last month, but Alberta, as I said, saw its unemployment rate remain steady, which is a 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 66,600. Those gains were driven primarily by Ontario (54,500), Québec (11,500), and Alberta (10,300).
The national unemployment rate fell to 6.9%, down from 7.1% in September.
Alberta’s youth (15–24) unemployment rate was tied with BC for the 5th highest in the country.
NL17.5NB16.7ON16.3PEI16.0BC14.9AB14.9NS14.1MB11.9SK11.8QC9.4
Of the 5 provinces who saw their youth unemployment increase since September, we had the smallest increase.
Sep 2025Oct 2025ChangePEI14.616.01.4NS12.714.11.4BC13.714.91.2NL16.617.50.9AB14.714.90.2NB17.216.7-0.5MB12.411.9-0.5QC9.99.4-0.5ON17.816.3-1.5SK13.411.8-1.6
Over the last year, however, we had the second largest decrease in our youth unemployment rate.
Oct 2024Oct 2025ChangeSK12.811.8-1.0AB15.814.9-0.9QC9.99.4-0.5MB10.911.91.0BC13.314.91.6NL15.717.51.8ON14.116.32.2NS11.214.12.9PEI11.816.04.2NB9.716.77.0
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