Outlook shows another rough year for Albertans
Posted Mar 3, 2016 11:35 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Conference Board of Canada’s 2016 Western Business Outlook shows Calgary’s economy is forecast to decline by 1.2 per cent this year, on the heels of a 2.4 per cent contraction in 2015.
Pedro Antunes, the Deputy Chief Economist with Conference Board of Canada, said the medium term oil recovery many expected just didn’t happen.
“What we’re seeing is a much slower reaction on the supply side than we expected,” he explained. “That suggests that the longer term re-balancing is a ways out.”
However, he points out businesses in Calgary have done their best to adapt and the provincial government hasn’t been idle either.
“We’ve seen, in the province, about 100,000 jobs lost just from the peak of 2015 to currently,” Antunes added. “We are seeing about 60,000 jobs gained in the public sector.”
Still, he says two of the hardest hit industries in 2015, manufacturing and construction, will continue to struggle this year, while conditions in the services sector will deteriorate.
