A Bright Outlook for Alberta’s Economy

Alberta's Consistently Strong Economy to Continue...

Good news on the future of Alberta’s economy, a province that has had a consistently strong economic outlook in comparison to other parts of Canada and the world during the latest recession of 2008 – 2009.

Having said that, it may come as no surprise that ATB Financial’s “Alberta Economic Outlook” for the last quarter of 2014 expects the province's economy to remain strong throughout the last few months of the year.

Forecast for Alberta is a gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2014 of 3.7 percent and in 2015, just a fraction lower at 3.6 percent. These rates are similar with those seen over the past few years which puts Alberta in the “Goldilocks” zone, a distribution of economic growth with a small variance from the average.

Economists and those who are well-versed in the topic will tell you that anything above the 4 percent range for growth creates instability by creating stress on labour markets which in turn pushes incomes up and also increases the cost of buying / renting real estate. All these variables and many more not mentioned can be hard to adjust to for many people.

Energy Prices

Interestingly enough, ATB Financial’s economic forecasts have come from assumptions of pricing for West Texas Intermediate oil at $98.00 per barrel and natural gas at $4.49 mmBtu (both in US dollars).

ATB Financial’s report was also based on an expected value of the Canadian dollar at $0.91 cents per US dollar. Right now, the dollar remains below that value which will make up for lower US dollar energy prices.

I say to you job seekers; continue to make your way over to Alberta as new opportunities are bountiful in this prosperous Canadian province!

More Canadian Economics

For a look at several economic-related articles since 2012, check out our Canadian Economics Summary today!

Join Us

Until next time, we invite you to join us at Calgaryism on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter; join thousands of Canadians and share with us your thoughts, photos and more today!