Paul Martin Commentary
Saskatchewan employers ended 2025 on the hunt for new workers.
There are a mittful of employment or labor market related reports that come out on a monthly or quarterly basis. Alone, they can distort the story of the relationship between workers and employers like the last two labor force surveys or jobs reports: January had a big surge in hirings, February had big losses. They averaged out but in isolation were volatile.
Another of the reports we watch is payroll hours which includes changes in weekly wage packages. Rising pay tends to signal employers are short of help and willing to shell out more for capable talent.
And the final one is the job vacancy report. It tracks how many jobs have been created and are going unfilled. It is a good metric for workers looking for employment. A lot of vacancies present a target-rich environment.
Saskatchewan ended the year with 17,000 job vacancies, the most since last spring. And they were spread out across the province as the only region which saw a decline was the southwest.
