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Gain of 2,820 from other provinces follows losses
. B* _3 k3 p; c& `3 b( A! pFrom Today's Edmonton Journal
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% \) w; c; X% O0 C4 w! o) jMigration to Alberta from other provinces jumped in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
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9 k a+ v1 |4 L% `4 C2 S: WFrom April 1 to July 1, a net total of 2,820 Canadians moved to Alberta. 2 T K+ x5 c) ]& s; b! ]
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That means people from other provinces are being drawn by Alberta’s economy after months of dwindling or negative interprovin-cial migration to Alberta. , }9 U0 i( V5 {7 ?5 P5 X, a- a6 R
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Only 312 Canadians moved to Alberta in the first three months of the year and Alberta posted net losses in the two quarters before that. % a- t/ C3 I! }* G. N* w9 a
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Between 2009 and this year, Alberta lost 2,200 people to other provinces. 3 h" y2 d8 Z+ ^2 F# d
; {& ^' G- b% b. IIt was the first time Alberta had lost more people than it gained since 1994-95.
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$ X+ _( x3 x) B) W" X* \7 S' E0 w/ FIt followed a peak during 200506 when 45,800 interprovincial migrants arrived. 8 e; `$ N/ V- a$ H$ U
3 H3 B6 ~1 H6 i5 eATB Financial economist Dan Sumner said interprovincial migration is one of the best measures of the relative economic and social health of a region.
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. M, p t% |" m7 x“Alberta just experienced its most solid quarter of interprovincial migration in a year,” Sumner said.
% V0 H+ F$ h4 j+ n5 a1 m“The main factor driving Canadians to move between provinces is jobs and job prospects. 4 h, j$ I/ _- f
* h, l b9 e& `3 z“During the mid-decade, unsustainably strong job prospects drove migrants to Alberta from all corners of the country, although this trend reversed course quickly during the recession.”
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8 S$ V. S6 ^8 X- ]/ x' qBut he said a still-recovering job market in Alberta means a quick return to the pace of migration seen during the boom is unlikely. " H @& Q0 M# e7 Z. z( d
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Statistics Canada said Alberta’s population in the second quarter climbed by 18,538, or 0.5 per cent, to 3.72 million.
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% o4 H- T# e( H$ VThat was the highest increase rate among provinces and includes arrivals from other provinces and countries, as well as births.
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& c' J6 _1 D' B5 g& e“Almost half the growth in Alberta came from natural increase, the highest proportion among the provinces,” said the federal agency.
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: C1 T" H$ h( K, r* i+ g, G# w1 ~Sumner said the province’s strong natural increase was partly due to its population having the lowest median age at 35.8, compared to the national average of 39.7.
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" L# k5 }# D) W3 O6 N6 h3 [% h# h“More young people means more babies,” Sumner said. $ `' L3 Y% O) ^9 W2 ~. L d _
% g4 f: ], t- j1 \9 g0 @: rAs of July 1, Canada’s population was estimated at 34.1 million, up 120,800 or 0.36 per cent from April 1. |
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