While job growth in the province has been strong, he said, it hasn’t been sufficient to keep up with the uptick in people moving here.

Alberta’s population grew by around 204,000 people between July of 2023 and July of 2024, according to a recent provincial news release. That’s an annual growth rate of around 4.4 per cent — the highest rate since 1981 and the highest among all provinces, it said. (It’s also the size of two new cities roughly the size of Red Deer.)

An estimated 42 per cent of that increase in working-age population was concentrated in Calgary, and 40.5 per cent in Edmonton, said St-Arnaud.

There are industries still dealing with labour shortages, even with the current job market. Home-builders need more skilled trades workers, and many hospitality businesses still can’t seem to find enough staff, said Parsons, from ATB.