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Alberta unemployment rate ticks up to 7.2% in April as jobs stagnate nationwide

Alberta lost more jobs than the rest of Canada combined in April, according to Statistics Canada, but the employment decline was within the margin of error for the federal agency's monthly Labour Force Survey.

Province sees more job losses than rest of Canada combined, but still within error margin of StatsCan survey

Alberta employment levels continued to decline in April, according to Statistics Canada, although the drop was not as sharp as in previous months and fell within the standard error rate in the survey the federal agency uses to get the data. (Norm Betts/Bloomberg)

Alberta lost more jobs than the rest of Canada combined in April, according to Statistics Canada, but the employment decline was within the margin of error for the federal agency's monthly Labour Force Survey.

Overall, the province's unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage points to 7.2 per cent.

There were 10,900 fewer full-time jobs in April than in March, according to Statistics Canada, and 9,900 fewer part-time jobs.

The standard error rate for Alberta-specific data in the national survey is 14,100 for full-time employment and 13,100 for part-time employment.

Employment nationwide was "virtually unchanged" in April, according to Statistics Canada, with the survey reflecting a decline of 2,100 jobs, which the agency described as a change of zero per cent.

The Canadian unemployment rate stayed steady at 7.1 per cent.

Statistics Canada notes the monthly analysis of the labour market "focuses on differences between estimates that are statistically significant at the 68 per cent confidence level."