Energy and the Alberta economy are like two peas in a pod.

And yet, the main category available from Statistics Canada* for tracking the energy sector’s labour force doesn't include everything related to energy (e.g., oil refineries, pipelines, and geophysical surveying), but it does include non-energy industries like forestry and gold mining.

To help address this, Statistics Canada uses something called a “satellite account” that provides provincial labour force data on the “energy sector” on an annual basis. It’s not perfect as it still doesn’t include energy-related industries like petrochemicals, but it does paint a more accurate picture.**

With the above in mind, let’s take a look at what the satellite account is telling us about Alberta's energy sector.

As of 2024 (the latest data available), there were just under 161,000 people working in Alberta’s energy sector. This works out to about half (52%) of all energy sector workers in Canada. The next largest cohort of energy sector workers is found in Ontario at 18% of the total (56,287). 

The satellite account does not provide more detailed breakouts, but Alberta’s energy sector workers would be heavily weighted toward oil and gas whereas Ontario’s would be mostly involved in electric power generation and oil refining). 

The number of energy sector workers in Alberta since 2009 (that’s as far back as the satellite account goes) has tracked the overall fortunes of the oil and gas sector. Employment peaked in 2013 during a massive build-out phase in the oil sands, reached its low in 2016 during the provincial recession that was brought on by a collapse in oil prices, and rebounded to the highest level in 10 years.   

Other key characteristics of energy sector employment in Alberta in 2024:

• Men accounted for 75% of the total number of jobs
• 94% of the jobs were full-time
• Employees who identify as Indigenous accounted for 6% of the total number of jobs (about 7% of Alberta’s population identified as Indigenous as of the 2021 Census)
• 70% had a post-secondary education
• Only 0.3% of the jobs were self-employed positions
• The average hourly wage was $67.26

It remains to be seen what the full impact of AI and other technology will be on jobs in the energy sector, but oil and gas extraction has already become less labour intensive. In any case, the sector will remain a core part of the Alberta economy and, if major projects like a new oil pipeline to the B.C. Coast, additional LNG export facilities, and carbon capture initiatives like Pathways go forward, employment will increase despite efficiency gains.

*The North American Industry Classification System used by Statistics Canada has many merits, but also many limitations. The latter is amplified in the monthly Labour Force Survey by the lumping together of forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction into a single category while other energy-related activities such as pipelines, electricity generation, and refining get lost under headings like transportation and warehousing, utilities, and manufacturing.

To make things more confusing, note that Natural Resources Canada produces an Energy Fact Book that reports energy sector employment using a mix of Statistics Canada data across different years and sources including special tabulations to produce estimates of direct and indirect employment. Bottom line: use all sources of data on the energy sector with caution.

**The activities included in the “energy sector” are:

Conventional oil and gas extractionNon-conventional oil extractionCoal miningOther metal ore mining (uranium)Support activities for oil and gas extractionElectric power generation, transmission and distributionNatural gas distributionPetroleum refineriesCrude oil and other pipeline transportationPipeline transportation of natural gas
Answer to the previous trivia question: The abbreviation am stands for ante meridiem, “before midday” in Latin, while pm means post meridiem, or “after midday.”

Today’s trivia question: What percentage of energy sector workers in Alberta in 2024 were 55 years of age or older?