The monthly job numbers report was another wild one. It seems this is becoming standard fare for this particular report.
StatsCan’s monthly Labor Force Survey reported Saskatchewan employers generated 5,800 new jobs in March.
But this is not a report you take to the bank. Here’s just the last three month: January saw roughly 6,000 new jobs, February’s report had 6,000 losses and now another 6,000 gains. Swings of 6,000 either way from month to month offers little guidance for those looking for work or for employers hoping to hire.
6,000 is roughly the total number of working people in a city the size of Estevan so swings of that magnitude in either direction are probably unlikely. Ideally, in a month where we lost thousands of jobs you’d want to compare that to the number of first-time employment insurance claims to see if there is any correlation but we don’t have those figures for February yet.
Nonetheless, it is good fodder for the politicians: government claiming wins in the positive months and the opposition criticizing in the negative ones.
