Some interesting Calgary employment stats courtesy of Trevor Toombe. Sometimes we look at the unemployment rate, which is the highest among major cities, and wonder why Calgary is growing so much. His Twitter thread explains some of the reasons why.
Unemployment rate. At first glance it doesn't look good.
But Calgary also has a high participation rate.
Here is the share of each city’s population that is employed in February 2023 (three-month average from StatCan).
@trevortombe
This matters a lot. Consider the following equation u = 1 - e/p where u is unemployment rate, e is employment rate, and p is participation rate. If Calgary had the same participation rate as Toronto (holding emp rate fixed) it would have an unemployment rate of 4.8%, not 6.6%.
Unemployment rate. At first glance it doesn't look good.
But Calgary also has a high participation rate.
Here is the share of each city’s population that is employed in February 2023 (three-month average from StatCan).
@trevortombe
This matters a lot. Consider the following equation u = 1 - e/p where u is unemployment rate, e is employment rate, and p is participation rate. If Calgary had the same participation rate as Toronto (holding emp rate fixed) it would have an unemployment rate of 4.8%, not 6.6%.