The monthly jobs report had another volatile month in September.
There are times when the survey used to prepare these numbers seems to hit a bit of bump, pushing numbers more dramatically than you’d expect.
September was one of those months. Alberta, for example, saw 43,000 new jobs in a single month. That is a big number and completely out of step with the previous month which posted a decline of 14,000.
Here in Saskatchewan, we gained 1,700 full-time jobs in September and lost 2,300 part-time positions giving us a net change of 700 fewer names in employer payrolls. It still leaves us with 14,000 more jobs than at this time last year.
The declines were centred in rural areas as both Regina and Saskatoon posted employment gains in September. Each saw roughly a thousand new positions in the month
But our working population also grew in September – up roughly 1,400 – yet our workforce rose by more than 8,000. All of this saw the unemployment rate swell to 6.0 from 4.7-percent pushing us into second place behind Quebec.
