Lessons from the Lonestar State: Comparing the economic performance of Alberta and Texas finds that Alberta’s annual unemployment rate was lower than the Texas rate every year from 2004 to 2014. But after the 2014 drop in oil prices, the situation reversed, with Texas enjoying a lower annual unemployment rate—in some years, a much lower rate—than Alberta. For example, Alberta’s unemployment rate peaked at 7.2 per cent in 2016 while the Texas rate stayed below 5 per cent from 2014 to 2018.