CALGARY - Alberta's labour market is looking up - but barely.

The Conference Board of Canada's Help-Wanted Index, released Wednesday, showed the Alberta index rose by a healthy 4.7 points in November, which more than offset the declines of the previous two months.

And nationally, following two consecutive declines, the Help-Wanted Index rose 2.47 points to 103.1 in November.

The index is based on seasonally-adjusted numbers of new, unduplicated jobs posted online during the month across 79 Canadian job-posting websites.

"Still, despite the increase, the recent declines in the index suggest that the slowdown in the labour market will continue for the next few months at least," said the conference board of the national data. "Indeed, employment gains have been modest in recent months, and we do not expect to see significant gains in the months ahead."

Only two provinces-New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island-posted declines in their indexes in November.

New Brunswick's index dropped 4.5 points and Prince Edward Island's declined by 2.6 points. The highest gain in the country was also recorded in Atlantic Canada, where Newfoundland and Labrador posted a 15.8 point increase. Nova Scotia remained relatively stable.

In Central Canada, Ontario and Quebec posted similar gains, with Ontario's index up 1.9 points and Quebec's climbing 1.8 points. In Western Canada, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Alberta had all posted declines in September and October, but the story was different in November, said the conference board.

While Manitoba's index remained almost unchanged and British Columbia's index increased by a tepid 0.6 points, Saskatchewan was up a solid 10.8 points, said the report.

mtoneguzzi@calgaryherald.com