EPISODE OVERVIEW

Real estate returns come down to people and paycheck before properties. In this one, you go past the headline and into the employment data that actually predicts who pays your rent. The unemployment number is the lazy metric. The real signal is employment, job quality, wage growth, and how diverse the job base is. You'll see why the national jobs picture is uneven, why Alberta is the clear outlier right now, and how to turn all of that research into an actual deal.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

- Stop reporting unemployment. It's the lazy metric. Track employment, job quality (full time vs part time), wage growth, and the diversity of the job base. That's the full picture.
- Run any market through the framework: demand (are people moving in), employment (are they working), caliber (full time or part time), affordability (are wages growing), diversity (how broad is the job base), then execution (does the deal underwrite).
- The national number bounced in May, up about 3 percent year over year, but don't let a one month blip write the narrative. Canada has been limping along for a decade.
- Alberta added roughly 104,000 jobs, a 4.1 percent year over year growth rate, the strongest of any province, with about a third of the population.
- Absorption rate of 1.12. Alberta is adding more jobs than people moving in. That kills the "everybody's moving there to be unemployed" story.
- The growth was full time, high quality work. Full time jobs up around 118,000 while part time fell.
- Alberta leads the country on weekly earnings, about 1,371 dollars, up almost 2 percent year over year.
- Alberta is energy led, not energy only. Oil and gas is roughly 21 percent of GDP but only about 6 percent of the workforce. The growth is coming from health care, public administration, transportation, warehousing, manufacturing, and construction. Over 107,000 service jobs created.
- Edmonton is a diverse market. Health care, government, education, construction, logistics, and retail. Retail, construction, and health care alone make up about 40 percent of the jobs.
- 90,000 forecasted new jobs are still on the books in the industrial heartland just outside Edmonton.
- A diverse job base means diverse tenant profiles, and that's what gives a portfolio durability.
- Research is worthless without execution. Overlay GDP, population, and employment onto the actual deal. The data qualifies the market. The underwriting qualifies the property. Not every property in Edmonton makes sense.

MEMORABLE QUOTES

"Real estate returns come down to people and paycheck before properties."

"The unemployment number, in my personal opinion, is a lazy metric."

"In Alberta, they are adding more jobs than people are moving in."

"Alberta is energy led. It's not energy only."

"Population creates the demand. Employment creates the capacity. Full time work signals quality. Wages create affordability. And the diversification creates durability."

NEXT STEPS

- Stop tracking the unemployment headline. Start tracking employment, job quality, wage growth, and job diversity.
- Put your target market through the framework: demand, employment, caliber, affordability, diversity, then underwriting.
- Before you buy, overlay the data onto the actual deal. The numbers tell you the market is real. The underwriting tells you the property is real.

WORK WITH RUSSELL

Most investors don't stall from lack of effort. They stall because they don't know which move matters next.

Coaching fixes that. Not motivation, clarity you can act on this week.

Book a private consultation: https://russellwestcott.com/free-consultation/

In your corner, Russell

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