Technology, education factors in Calgary’s ‘huge’ unemployment rate: Professor

In May, Calgary’s unemployment rate reached 8.1 per cent, and one University of Calgary professor said it’s not due to AI replacing workers but how quickly evolving technology turns the degrees of new grads grey before they’re even used. 

Barely seven months into 2025, the city has already seen tourism numbers and housing starts break records. But during the July 22 Executive Committee meeting, city council learned that the job market and economy are a far cry from reaping the benefits. 

A quarterly report by the Corporate and Financial Services team projected Calgary’s annual economy to grow by 1.6 per cent, down from the 2024 estimate of 3.5 per cent.

In contrast, they said that both the consumer price index and unemployment rate were on the rise. 

“The labour market is currently facing challenges aligning workforce skills with employer demand,” read the report. 

Having a higher population, the Calgary Economic Region makes up a significant share of Alberta’s labour market. In April, minors and young adults across the province amounted to 17.2 per cent of all unemployed people, and Mayor Jyoti Gondek said that Calgary’s youth are feeling the burden.

“We are seeing that the labour market is particularly tough for young people, so we need to ensure that the types of jobs that they are applying for are available to them,” she said. 

“We also need to make sure that any time the city can create jobs, that we are doing our best to do it.”

Mayor Gondek referenced the Prairie Economic Gateway, which following February’s approval by city councillors, is set to come to fruition as a rail-served inland port.

She said that the project will create approximately 30,000 jobs.

“It’s important for a city to invest in itself, because ultimately, people need good places to work. They need solid employment, and they need to know they’re going to be having a paycheck coming in,” said Mayor Gondek. 

However, Hoessein Piri, an Assistant Professor of supply chain management at UCalgary, said that focusing solely on the industrial sector could be why the city’s employment rate is less than ideal. 

From oil rigs to algorithms

Despite Calgary’s motto having shifted away from Be Part of the Energy, industries like oil and natural gas remain etched into the city’s DNA, from the first refinery opening here in the 1920s to discovering Leduc’s reserves in the 1940s. 

But Piri said the slogan isn’t the only new addition to the city. 

“Historically, Calgary’s economy and labour market were heavily relying on the energy sector, and it was kind of like a boom-bust environment,” he said.

“Now, one of the reasons that Calgary is transitioning from this classical energy-based sector is towards tech.”

Piri said that Toronto, Vancouver, and California’s Silicon Valley pose no argument to being the West’s largest tech giants.

But when it comes to up-and-coming areas, he said that Calgary is the fastest growing out of all of North America.

According to a 2024 cross-continental report by CBRE, Calgary secured the number one spot with a 78 per cent increase in technology-related positions between 2018 and 2023.

In Calgary, businesses categorized under the professional, scientific, and technical services industry single-handedly swept the province with a little over 13 per cent in total contributions. 

Last year, compared to the oil and gas industry, the technology sector had a lower unemployment rate and provided jobs to 87,800 more people.

Despite this, Piri said that technology moves fast and that many job seekers don’t have the skills to gain employment.

“A lot of cities are moving towards tech and AI-oriented jobs, but the training has been lacking,” he said. 

“That’s why we see this mismatch between what employers are seeking and what youngsters have been trained on.”

Mending the gap between education, employment

While professions in the realms of computer science and information technology are the most obvious suspects, Piri said that this disconnect plays a role in occupations that aren’t often the first thing to come to mind, like healthcare. 

“They need nurses that are trained to work with the latest technology, but a classical training does not provide this,” he said. 

“This also adds to the high unemployment.”

No matter the career, Piri said that a high unemployment rate jeopardizes the economy in a multitude of ways.

He said that this meant people are spending less money, which stalls the economy, lowers the GDP, and strains social services, making it harder to land an interview.

To remedy the situation, Piri recommended that post-secondary institutions and faculty give employers the opportunity to chime in on their curriculum plans. Along with offering more short degrees—certificates or diplomas—he said this ensures that schooling stays relevant. 

“This is going to tremendously help us as educators to know what to design, what the skills they are looking for, and also for students to know what skills they should learn in order to go on the job market,” he said. 

“I would like to encourage all institutes to come on board on this and design a variety of programs that can bridge this gap.”