It appears that Drumheller and the East Central area of Alberta are riding the crest of economic recovery, and it shows in having the lowest unemployment numbers in the province.
    The Government of Alberta released is labour force statistics and in January the Camrose-Drumheller region had the lowest unemployment rate in the province at just 3.8 per cent. This is down from 3.9 per cent in December of 2011 and down from 5 per cent last January.
    The overall unemployment rate for Alberta is 4.9 per cent, down from 5.9 per cent a year ago.
    “I think we are seeing demand across all the sectors,”’ said Margaret Sparling service delivery manager at Alberta Works in Drumheller. "I think it is a general improvement in the economy.”
    Alberta continues to fair better than the rest of the provinces and the national average unemployment rate. Currently Canada’s unemployment rate sits at 7.6 per cent, a 0.2 per  cent improvement over a year ago.
    Sparling said the Camrose-Drumheller region encompasses a large area and includes Lloydminster where there is significant oil and gas industry activity.
    In Alberta the industries that saw the greatest growth in January were health care and social assistance, 8,700; forestry, fishing, mining and oil and gas, 5,200; and utilities, 4,500.
    While the unemployment rate in the area is low, Sparling says there are still many jobs out there for those looking.
    “Our Alberta Works Centre specializes in helping people find jobs, and our services are for everybody,” said Sparling, adding they work with both job seekers and employers looking for opportunities.
    She said the job market is strong, including the one where jobs are not as visible.
    “There is still a hidden job market, there are still a lot of jobs that are not advertised, so we try to gather that information to share with job seekers as well,” said Sparling.

    The Town of Drumheller is looking to residents to see if the idea of public transportation has any traction in the valley.
    Council has been talking about the possibility of offering a public transportation service for a few years and had a study completed looking into the possibility. In the near future, they will be distributing a survey with residential utility bills to gauge the feeling of residents.
    “The town has come up with a survey on the possibility of some public transportation, and it is kind of in conjunction with the Valley Bus,” said Councillor Tom Zariski, who sits on the Valley Bus committee. “The idea is of course that Valley Bus has run such an excellent service for a number of years and there is a possibility that it could be expanded to include some public transportation routes for anybody.”
    The survey is simply to see if there is support for such a service.
    “We want to know if the general public would actually take a bus. Would they take a bus from Nacmine to downtown?  Would someone take a bus from Midland? We don’t know. We don’t want to invest a whole bunch in this if people say … ‘I probably wouldn’t take it.’” said Zariski.
    He says there are opportunities working with Valley Bus.
    “The idea is the Valley Bus board is in favour of a limited type of a schedule. But if it gets to the point where there are many buses, routes, and drivers, then the Valley Bus is not very keen on running that kind of thing. If it could be a moderate expansion of what Valley Bus does now and it wouldn’t really cost Valley Bus a lot of money or a lot more administration, then Valley Bus is interested in that.”
    Zariski says Valley Bus has a well-defined mandate, and in taking on public transportation, that does not change.
    “The primary interest of Valley Bus has and always will be accessible transportation for seniors and handicapped and making it very affordable and convenient. So for example, if someone has mobility issues and a doctor’s appointment then that’s Valley Bus’ mandate and that will never change,” said Zariski.
    However he said they would not be averse to finding efficiencies.
    “On Valley Bus we are always looking for opportunities to make it more efficient. We are constantly looking at how we could have more than one person on a bus from one fixed location and that kind of thing. We are constantly looking for how we can be more efficient, maybe cutting down on how many routes we run,” said Zariski. 
    The survey is planned to be in the next utility bill, and it will also available at Town Hall. The deadline to submit the survey is  February 29, 2012.