Alberta was the only province in Canada in December to see a big decline in the number of full-time jobs, but its unemployment rate is still the lowest in Canada, according to figures that have been released by Statistics Canada.

Alberta lost nearly 16,000 full-time jobs in December, the agency said.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Alberta was 4.1 per cent in December, compared to 3.4 per cent in November.

Todd Hirsch, a Calgary-based economist with ATB Financial, said the numbers aren’t surprising.

“In Alberta, most of it is being driven by a downturn in the energy patch,” he said. “Even if you are not directly employed by an energy producer, a lot of businesses and personal services in the province depend on the energy sector doing well — everything from accounting services to the food and beverage establishments.”

Unemployed Calgary construction worker Mort Andre said more Albertans are experiencing the economic downturn first-hand.

“It had to end somewhere and I think this is where it’s going to end,” he said. “They are shutting all the construction jobs down on condominiums. No one is buying them. It’s just terrible.”

Job losses are also hitting Alberta’s manufacturing sector.

Nova Chemicals in Joffre, Alta., just east of Red Deer, is anticipating layoffs this year due to changed market conditions, though not all of the job losses will come from Alberta.

“It’s quite a stressful time,” said Grant Thomson, the company’s president of feedstocks.

“We are cutting fixed costs significantly. We are going to take $100 million out of fixed costs, and that is going to mean that we are going to reduce the employee head count by about 400 people.”

The national jobless rate sat at 6.6 per cent in December. Overall, Canada lost 71,000 full-time jobs in December, a loss that was partially offset by an increase of 36,000 part-time jobs.

The unemployment rates were 3.6 per cent in Edmonton and 3.9 per cent in Calgary. Both numbers are seasonally adjusted and based on three-month moving averages. In 2008, Saskatchewan registered the strongest employment growth in the country — 3.1 per cent.

Alberta and Manitoba, with growth rates of 1.3 per cent and 1.7 per cent, respectively, joined Saskatchewan as the only provinces with employment growth above the national average of 0.6 per cent in 2008.

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