Another sign that Saskatchewan’s economy is performing above average can be found in the latest numbers on new vehicle sales. They’re running well ahead of where they were at this time last year.
Big ticket purchases such as a new vehicle or a house are a strong indicator of consumer confidence. People who feel good about their future are willing to make a major investment and, of course, the opposite is true as well so this is a measure that economists like to watch to test the pulse of the marketplace.
The latest figures on new vehicle sales are from February and they are nearly 20-percent ahead of the same month a year earlier. It was a similar story in January.
Part of the story here may be the tariffs prompting consumers to pull the trigger before the trade war raises prices. But it also points to the state of the economy as we are seeing job numbers among the strongest in the country while job vacancies are rising as employers create positions faster than our workforce is growing.
