Alberta added roughly 20,800 jobs in January while under stricter COVID-19 measures but the province’s unemployment rate remains the second-highest in the country.

Part-time jobs went up by 21,100 last month, a big shift from December where thousands of jobs were lost, but these gains were offset somewhat by a decrease of 300 full-time jobs, according to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey released Friday morning. The end result brings Alberta’s unemployment rate to 10.7 per cent, the second-highest in the country behind Newfoundland and Labrador at 12.8 per cent.

This was the first increase in employment for Alberta since October.

The survey looked at labour market conditions from Jan. 10 to 16, more than a month after Alberta brought in stricter measures to curb the spread of the virus but just before some restrictions were loosened to allow for personal and wellness services to reopen by appointment only.

“Today, I’m less optimistic than I was a month ago and I feel we still have a long road ahead of us,” Shufelt said. “We don’t know what the timeline is and we don’t know what normal looks like on the other side of this.”

Justin Brattinga, press secretary for Jobs, Economy and Innovation Minister Doug Schweitzer, said in an email Alberta’s economic recovery will not be a straight path but the government will continue to work to protect both lives and jobs.

“As more people are vaccinated, public health restrictions are carefully eased and we continue to roll out our recovery plan, we know that job creators will be able to put more Albertans back to work,” he said.

NDP MLA and critic for economic development and innovation Deron Bilous said in an email statement it was good news to see more jobs added during a time when so many workers and small businesses are struggling.

“With an upcoming budget, the UCP must present a real plan to diversify our economy and set our province on the path of a long-term and sustainable recovery,” he said.

Across Canada, employment fell by 213,000 or 1.2 per cent last month, bringing the national unemployment rate to 9.4 per cent, the highest since August. The losses were entirely part-time and concentrated in Quebec and Ontario, the survey said.