If job creation is used as an indicator, Saskatchewan’s economy is ticking along quite nicely these days.
StatsCan’s monthly job report came out Friday showing Saskatchewan was one of three provinces that posted gains. And they were significant at that with 5,400 new entrants added to payrolls in the province. That jump of almost a full percentage point is an increase of 17,000 over May of last year. It was also the best job generation performance we produced since last Fall.
We also had the rare experience of creating roughly the same number of jobs as our population increased so the employment and participation rates rose while the number of unemployed individuals fell.
Most regions of the province participated in the growth. Only the Yorkton-Melville corridor and the north, including Prince Albert, has lower employment totals than they did at this time a year earlier.
Saskatchewan’s strong number came as the national employment picture was flat, remaining virtually unchanged from the previous month with Alberta leading the way in terms of job losses, down 20,000 for the month.
