The labour market in Saskatchewan appears to be tightening up.
One of the measures economic observers track to assess the relationship between employers and employees is job vacancies. When the number of jobs going unfilled rises, it causes problems for employers and, on the other hand, when job openings are scarce, workers find it hard to enter the market or find better positions.
Saskatchewan has been at or near the top of the vacancy list for months as employers here struggled to find talent. But the latest report – from January – is showing a different picture. For the first time in a couple years, the gap is shrinking as we ranked 4th place among the provinces in terms of job vacancies.
Part of the explanation can be found in our population numbers. As more people arrive in Saskatchewan, the pool available to fill vacant jobs swells, making it easier for employers to fill newly-created or vacant positions.
Even though the job vacancy rate has fallen from four-and-a-half per cent to 3.6 per cent, employers are still looking to fill more than 18,000 positions.
