There are more jobs going unfilled in Saskatchewan than there are people who are unemployed.
That is a first for this province. Even if every unemployed person had perfectly matched skills and was located exactly where the job vacancy was situated, Saskatchewan employers would still be short of talent. And it is not for not offering more money.
The latest payroll figures are from June and Saskatchewan workers were seeing considerable progress in their earnings.
Not only are we ahead of Quebec and Manitoba and just slightly behind Alberta, BC and Ontario, average weekly wages here rose nearly four per cent in the past year which is in the upper half of provinces.
No doubt the fact that 27,000 advertised positions are vacant right now is a contributing factor in higher wages which may well be the result of overtime hours adding to weekly pay checks.
That amounts to roughly 5.5 per cent of all jobs created by Saskatchewan employers being vacant making this a seller’s labour market.
