Although unemployment numbers are still relatively low for the Yorkton-Melville region compared to the rest of Canada, the latest numbers from Statistics Canada indicate an local economy in decline.
In December 2015, the unemployment rate stood at 5.3, up 1.7 points from December 2014.
The local population actually declined during the year from an estimated 63,000 to 62,300. Of those, 37,600 are considered to be members of the labour force (people aged 15 and over) compared to 39,600 at the end of 2014. Even with that decline, however, there were a total of 2,100 people unemployed in the region, 600 more than in December 2014.
In addition to the decline in employment, some people have simply dropped out of the market. The participation rate (those in the labour force who are employed or actively seeking employment) dipped from 65.2 a year ago to 63.6 now.
Saskatchewan still has the lowest unemployment rate of all the provinces at 5.5, well below the national average of 7.1.
Provincially, full-time employment was up by 1,500 jobs while part-time jobs decreased by 2,500. That trend was not echoed by Yorkton-Melville, where both full- and part-time jobs decreased, full-time from 32,200 to 31,000 and part-time from 7,400 to 6,600.
Saskatchewan’s big cities fared better than the local region. Regina’s employment went up by 1.2 per cent while Saskatoon was up 0.2 per cent. Comparatively, Yorkton-Melville’s employment rate (number employed as a percentage of the population) declined 2.5 per cent.
Meanwhile things continue to look bleak for the country as a whole. On Monday, the Toronto Stock Exchange posted a ninth consecutive day of losses, representing the longest slump since 2002.
The price of oil continued to take a beating dropping to a 12-year low of $31 a barrel and with it the Canadian dollar is now poised to slip below 70 cents U.S.
