Alberta vs. Nova Scotia?

Travel Info
My fiance and I are moving to Canada from the US next year. We both want to go to school but want to work for a year to save some money. I've heard that jobs are easy to come by in Alberta. Is this true and how does one just show up and find a job? I have family in Nova Scotia but no contacts in Alberta. Also, can anyone suggest some websites for finding a job in advance? Or good areas in Alberta to look for a job? Thanks.

Travel Tips

gee nothing left say, .... mmm..... i like peas

Others
well this is an interesting question for me as i am from NS but have been living in the US for 16 years. i just met someone who wondered why on earth i live here (he was also from the maritimes but now living in montreal). i have given thought to moving home to canada but not to nova scotia and would prefer to go out west for economic reasons. he tells me the provincial taxes are considerable lower in Alberta and that Calgary has a booming job market. I would double check these facts but it certainly makes sense that the economy would be better in AB than NS.
Well this question is right up my ally because Im from edmonton alberta and my husband from Lunenburg N.S. Well maybe to help you weight these two decisions I will give you some of the pros and cons that I know of
Nova Scotia
really pretty pplace with only milder temperatures
jobs are scarce to find but not entirely impossible
houses are cheaper but hydro and gas and oil are quite a bit more pricey
houses are nice but most require T.L.C. Taxes and gas are also higher than most due to travel cost
N.S. does have hurricanes and floods and not all places are prone to this though
As for Alberta
housing right now is in shortage and what you do find depending on location(ie big cities) are quite expensive to buy or rent expect a $1000 a month for a 3 bedroom unit min.
jobs are everywhere and alot of them will start you between $9-15 an hour
if you are looking in alberta there is always the canadian government website and www.edmontonjobshop.ca these are a few if you yahoo jobs and place you want to live that will give you a longer list
alberta does experiance colder climates but the land again is beautiful and its a fry cold believe me its not that bad.
people in both provinces are friendly and you will always find that crime is a constant no matter where you live
I hope that this helps and if you have any more questions feel free to ask and i will try to answer
I'll throw in my two-cents worth on this question, too. Lots of people in Nova Scotia have moved to Alberta because they are going through a huge boom. There have been problems associated with the boom and one of them is that there is a real housing crisis. THere is a vacancy rate of only 0.5% in Calgary, with the average rent for a 2BR apartment (if you can find one) being $960. (Compare to 3.2% and $799 in Halifax) But jobs are plentiful - you see tons of ads for jobs in Alberta in Nova Scotia newspapers. However, Halifax is going through a mini-boom, as well. Latest unemployment rate in Halifax is 5.6%, compared to 3.1% in Alberta and 7.4% in Nova Scotia as a whole. Others have commented on differences between the provinces and I largely agree, although I don't know if I would say that crime is a constant. Having come to Canada from the U.S., I was astounded at how much less crime there is here. Taxes, etc. are definitely higher in NS compared to AB. A good website for searching employment opportunities is workopolis - http://www.workopolis.com/
Good luck!
I live in Calgary, Ab. I have never been to Nova Scotia but hear it is beautiful there, but the job market is definately in Alberta. It depends on what type of work you are looking for. If you are looking for excellent pay for your fiancee, then you might want to consider the oilsands in Fort McMurray. The vacancy rate there is even worse than Calgary, but there are camp jobs. If you would rather just work in the city, there are lots of jobs here. Anyone who doesn't have a job in Alberta, just plain doesn't want one. It's beautiful here in Calgary, and if you can find a place to live, there is plenty of work as well as lots to do. Even though our vacancy rate is very low, there is still a great deal of turnover in apartments and rental units, so you can usually find a place to live in a reasonable amount of time.
One of my boarders works at a drilling company right here in the city building drilling rigs, he is home every night and takes home about $2,800 every 2 weeks. Incidently, his wage was cut in half from when he used to work out in the field drilling for gas, but he wanted to be home every night and cut out the expenses of gas and hotels for travel.
Fast food restaurants are advertising $15/hr to start and most of them can't find enough staff to keep the restaurants open so they are just operating the drive-thru's at night.

Wishing you the very best!
I live in the US now but I am from Edmonton. I have never been to Nova Scotia, but I know many people who moved to Edmonton from there. From what I understand, the economy is not so great in Nova Scotia. Alberta has a booming economy, especially in the north where the oil sands are (Fort McMurray area). Housing costs are extremely high and vacancy rates are extremely low because of all the jobs available.

The further north you go, the more money you can make if you are a labourer. Anything in the oil patch pays well. Kids drop out of high school to go work there because you can make more there than you can in most jobs with a university degree.

It is expensive to travel between Nova Scotia and Alberta, so it might not be worth the job opportunities if you are really close to your family.