Paul Martin commentary
The month of May belongs to the Opposition.
This is getting to be a bit tiresome as we watch the monthly jobs reports teeter-totter. In May, Saskatchewan lost 6,000 jobs according to StatsCanada. That comes after April’s figures which belonged to the government.
In that month the province gained 6,000 jobs. Back in March we lost 6,000. In February we gained 6,000. In fact, this pattern has been consistent for the entire year.
So, with May being a down month, the Opposition is blaming the government’s fiscal plan. Last month it was the government’s turn to crow.
With the aggregate numbers being a bit suspect, it is challenging to look at the other numbers with any confidence but here they are. One hundred percent of the jobs we apparently lost in May were part-time. Full-time employment remained unchanged.
This was especially notable among young people – fewer of them were working or looking for work. This is becoming something of a chronic problem across the country and, based on this report, it would appear Saskatchewan is not immune to the trend.
