More people are working in Saskatchewan than ever before.
Job numbers in the province hit an all-time high last month for the second consecutive month, the provincial government announced Friday.
There were 576,900 people working in Saskatchewan — the most ever — in June, according to Statistics Canada. The number was up 8,700 from last year.
“There is a lot of good news in today’s report — jobs are growing in our key sectors, unemployment remains the lowest in the country, and full-time jobs are at record levels,” Government Relations Minister Jim Reiter said in a media release, speaking on behalf of Associate Economy Minister Jeremy Harrison.
Full-time employment in the province was up 9,600 from last year, reaching 480,700, while the labour force totalled 596,400 — both record highs for Saskatchewan.
Construction jobs increased by 12.9 per cent from last year while finance, insurance, real estate and leasing jobs jumped 8.9 per cent. Trade jobs increased by 2.8 per cent. Forest, mining, oil and gas moved up seven per cent, and utilities jobs jumped nearly 31 per cent.
“The last two months of record job numbers are consistent with the high level of economic activity taking place in Saskatchewan,” Reiter said.
The province’s unemployment rate, at 3.9 per cent, remained the lowest in Canada for the 18th consecutive month.
National unemployment was 7.1 per cent in June. Regina’s rate was 3.6 per cent while Saskatoon’s was 3.8 per cent.
Youth unemployment in the province, at 8.7 per cent, was also the lowest in Canada, sitting below the 13.4 per cent national average.
