Saskatchewan continues to enjoy strong job growth and the lowest unemployment rate in Canada as thousands of new jobs are being created in a number of different sectors.
The November Labour Force Report released today by Statistics Canada shows employment is up by 12,300 compared to November 2012 while Saskatchewan's unemployment rate is just 4.1 per cent - the lowest in Canada for the eleventh consecutive month.
Saskatchewan's year-over-year employment growth of 2.3 per cent is second highest in Canada, behind only Alberta. Manitoba and BC both lost jobs over the same period.
Economy Minister Bill Boyd said new jobs are being created in a number of different areas.
These include (year-over-year employment increases):
Transportation and warehousing: 6,800
Professional, scientific and technical services: 3,600
Manufacturing: 1,600
Agriculture: 1,400
"This shows Saskatchewan has a strong and diversified economy," Boyd said. "Even when there are job losses in one sector, they are more than offset by the new jobs that are being created in other areas."
Other highlights of today's report include:
The youth unemployment in the province - 6.1 per cent - is also the lowest among provinces and less than half the national rate (13.4 per cent).
Regina continues to have the lowest unemployment rate among major cities at 3.9 per cent and Saskatoon the third lowest at 4.2 per cent.
Aboriginal employment is up 2,800 in the past year while unemployment is down from 11.6 per cent to 10.7 per cent.
Boyd noted that as of this morning, there are still more than 12,000 positions to be filled listed on saskjobs.ca, including more than 4,000 in trades, transport and construction.
"One of the challenges of a growing province is that fact that we have a labour shortage in some areas," Boyd said. "Our government is working to identify those areas and create more training opportunities for those areas."
