A report released last Thursday (February 23) from the Conference Board of Canada said that Alberta is positioned to have the strongest economic growth in 2017.

According to the Provincial Outlook: Winter 2017, Alberta's economy is expected to grow by 2.8 percent this year, thanks to the rebuilding efforts in Fort McMurray and more stability in the energy sector. Despite this positive growth, the effects of the recession could still be felt for some time. The report does not forecast an immediate improvement to the job market in Alberta, something Shay Barker, Airdrie Economic Development Officer says she's heard elsewhere.

"Todd Hirsch, who is the chief economist of ATB, pointed towards our unemployment rate continuing to decline a little bit into 2017 before we saw improvement. So that's really where we are still feeling the pinch."

Regardless, Barker sees positive signs in the province, and in Airdrie in particular. The 2016 Construction and Growth Report released on February 24 showed that 512 new jobs were created in Airdrie last year, and that business licences were up.

"Locally, I think, you know, we're still seeing construction, we're still seeing businesses open, we're still seeing record levels of business licenses each month."

Barker also highlighted that a bunch of new developments and new businesses that will create jobs coming to the city in the near future are reasons to be optimistic about the economy.

Even so, Barker emphasized that the hopeful outlook for the future doesn't subtract from the situations of people in Airdrie that are struggling because of the community.

"We never want to underestimate the challenge that people in the local community are feeling, but I think we have a really unique situation in Airdrie where people come together and they support one another and I think that is something that made us stand apart in this downturn."

 

Read More:

Report Shows Airdrie Maintained Healthy Economy in 2016

 

Questions, comments or story ideas? Email us at news@discoverairdrie.com