Saskatchewan’s tendency to march to its own drum when compared to the trends coming from central Canada is a highlight of the latest job vacancy rate analysis.
This is a time when the national economy is slowing but, in Saskatchewan, it is doing the exact opposite. We’re creating jobs and having trouble filling them.
At 4.7 per cent, February posted the highest job vacancy rate Saskatchewan has seen in months. That is roughly equal to the unemployment rate so it is a significant number. If we could magically match every unemployed person with a vacant position, there’d be no one without a job. Basically, we are beyond full employment.
Yet, nationally, the vacancy rate is declining as employers begin to trim their workforces in regions where the economy is on the verge of recession.
Conversely, here in Saskatchewan payroll administrators and recruiters are having the biggest challenges as they scramble to find people to fill open slots, even with our population expanding at its fastest rate in a century.
