Between February and March, the number of Albertans receiving employment insurance benefits dropped by 2.4 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.

That means 60,100 received benefits in March.

The drop is part of a larger trend.

There was a drop of 26.4 per cent in the number of recipients from March 2017 to March 2018.

A number of factors could contribute to the decline, including workers running out of benefits, although Statistics Canada does say data shows job vacancies in Alberta have increased since the first quarter of 2017.

"Coinciding with the declining trend in the number of beneficiaries and an increase in job vacancies, the province recorded real gross domestic product growth of 4.9 per cent in 2017, following declines of 3.9 per cent in 2015 and 3.6 per cent in 2016," according to Statistics Canada.

Declines in the number of recipients were recorded across job categories, with a more pronounced drop for those in natural resources, agriculture and related production occupations — down 18.9 per cent between November 2017 and March 2018.

In addition to declines in the number of people collecting EI, claims also fell by 8.9 per cent in Alberta from February to March.