Canadian economy hit by huge loss in jobs.

In the month of November, the Canadian economy lost a much greater than feared 71,000 jobs, which is the worst loss in more than a quarter of century.

Meanwhile the US lost more than half a million more jobs, bringing the tally of job losses to nearly 1.9 million ever since the recession began a year ago.

BMO Capital Markets chief economist Sherry Cooper said that with the current dismal employment reports, there is no doubt that the Canadian economy is in recession and the US contraction is accelerating.

There was a net loss of 3,700 jobs in Alberta in the month of November, which comes on the heels of two months of very strong job growth. The unemployment rate in the province actually dropped to 3.4 percent as more number of people left the workforce, said a senior economist with ATB Financial in Calgary, Todd Hirsch.

Hirsch said that due to the pressures of the slowing global economy, turbulent markets and tight credit conditions, cracks are starting to show in the jobs market. He said that job losses in Alberta were overwhelming in case of full time work (8900), with compensating gains in part-time positions.

Hirsch said that given the present state of the global economic malaise and the drop in energy prices, some job losses in Alberta are certainly to be expected. He said that in spite of that, over the first eleven months of the year 2008, employment is up by a strong 2.9 percent compared to the same period in the last year.

He also said that there is no question that the pace will moderate in the months ahead and the job market of Alberta will not manoeuvre through this downturn completely unscathed.

According to Alberta Employment and Immigration, the unemployment rate of the province was 3.4 percent in the month of November, down from 3.7 percent in the month of October, and that it remains the lowest in the country.

The unemployment rate in Calgary in the month of November was 3.7 percent, down from 3.8 percent in the month of October, but it was up from 3 percent registered in November 2007.

CIBC World Markets economist Krishen Rangasamy warned that it is pretty clear that the worst is still to come on the employment front, with the rate of unemployment creeping up steadily towards seven percent. He said that the economy could easily lose another 100,000 jobs over the coming few months.