Saskatchewan added 30,300 jobs in June as the province continues its reopening plan.
Data released July 10 from Statistics Canada reveals the province’s unemployment rate now stands at 11.6 per cent, down from the 12.5 per cent recorded a month earlier.
“We are pleased to see one of the strongest rates of job growth in Canada for the month of June,” said Premier Scott Moe on Twitter. “The resiliency of Saskatchewan people will be key to our recovery from the economic impacts of COVID-19.”
Canada added 953,000 jobs while unemployment dropped 1.4 percentage points to 12.3 per cent.
The province’s biggest surge unfolded in the wholesale and retail trade sector, which added 5,900 jobs last month.
Other significant gains were witnessed in the health care and social assistance sector (+4,800 jobs), transportation and warehousing (+3,900 jobs), and construction (+3,100 jobs).
Agriculture, meanwhile, posted 1,200 job losses.
“From pre-virus levels, Ontario is still the laggard, with Alberta and B.C. next,” BMO chief economist Douglas Porter said in a note to investors.
“On the flip side, provinces that were less affected by the virus have not surprisingly moved closer to normal levels, with New Brunswick, Manitoba and Saskatchewan leading.”
He said the latest data shows a "solid second step on the road to recovery" but cautioned there is still a long way to go.
Porter expects gains in July numbers but added “after this initial, mechanical bounce, the next stages are likely to be much slower going.”
TD senior economist Brian DePratto said the June numbers indicate another step in the right direction.
“There remains a long road ahead to regain the roughly three million jobs lost as a result of the pandemic, but the pace so far has defied expectations,” he said in a note to investors.
“This may be telling us that Canadians are becoming a bit more confident from a health perspective – recall that at the height of the pandemic, there was a massive increase in people who had stopped looking for work entirely. The generally improving new infection numbers provide hope that the labour market healing can continue.”
Similar to Porter, DePratto questioned the sustainability of the pace in job gains.
“There is the risk that what we've seen so far has been the ‘low-hanging fruit’ as operations that are able to safely re-open have done so,” DePratto said.
“The pattern of gains will likely vary in the coming months as well. International travel restrictions are likely to remain in place for some time, with implications for those that tend to serve domestic versus international tourists, for instance.”
Editor's note: The orginal article focused on B.C. data. Saskatchewan data was added by Devan C. Tasa.
