Calgary Regional Economic Indicators: Employment, Housing, and Inflation

Data.calgary.ca provides annual economic indicators for the Calgary region, including unemployment rates, housing starts, building permit values, inflation, and retail sales. The dataset is compiled by Corporate Economics to inform forecasts. The last update was recorded in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyze the correlation between Calgary CER Unemployment rate (%) and Calgary (CMA) Average Hourly Wage Rate ($).
• Model Calgary (CMA) Total Housing Starts (units) using predictors like City of Calgary Housing - Vacancy Rate (%) and City of Calgary Building Permits Residential Value ($).
• Forecast Calgary (CER) Retail Sales ($billions) based on trends in Alberta Unemployment (Annual) (%) and Calgary (CMA) Inflation Rate (%change).
• Compare regional economic health by joining on Date to analyze Calgary CER Total Employment ('000 Persons) against Canada Unemployment (Annual) (%).

Strengths

• Includes 15 distinct economic metrics for multi-faceted analysis.
• Provides data at multiple geographic levels: City of Calgary, Calgary CMA, Alberta, and Canada.

Limitations

• Sample size and row count are unknown, limiting assessment of statistical power.
• Temporal coverage (start year) is unspecified, hindering longitudinal analysis.
• Contains multiple metrics for housing starts (Calgary CMA and City of Calgary) which may cause confusion without clear documentation.

Provenance

Source

data.calgary.ca, compiled by Corporate Economics.

Collection Method

Report containing analysis and statistical illustrations of monitored indicators.

Time Range

Annual data; specific start year is null.

Freshness

Updated annually; last update was March 2026.

Geography

Primarily Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with some comparative national and provincial indicators.