Saskatchewan’s economy did better last year than we originally thought.
Most of the economists had pegged Saskatchewan’s growth rate in the 2-percent range last year but we now have the official figure – the one StatsCanada puts out and the one that will be the reference point going forward.
And that number is 3.0 percent. That tied us with Alberta and was behind only a couple Maritime provinces. The national average was 2-percent so we were significantly ahead of the country as a whole and did far better than the big provinces of BC, Ontario and Quebec which lagged the national pace. They were in the 1.5-percent range.
The strength in our economy last year was on the personal side. Personal incomes or wages and salaries hit the $40 billion mark. That number was $30 billion just five years earlier.
It was a bit tougher on the corporate side as gross operating margins fell by six-percent because of lower resource prices.
And with that added household income, we saved more. Saskatchewan residents put away nearly 5-percent of the gross income last year.
