SASKATOON -- A Statistics Canada report shows the number of women getting jobs in Saskatchewan went up in February.
Bianca Remoquillo just got a job in February with a Saskatoon law office after completing her legal assistant course in December. She started the Saskatoon Business College course last March when the pandemic started.
“It almost gave me a little bit of anxiety because I was wondering, now this pandemic is just starting, what is going to happen when I graduate,” Remoquillo told CTV News.
The data are welcome news for her. She started looking for jobs outside of her training even while she was finishing her course just to cover her bases.
“It was such a relief to hear that people and women my age and younger are still getting employment which is so great to hear. That makes me so happy especially during the rough times we’ve had. It’s reassuring and that’s amazing,” she said.
Remoquillo got her job through Express Employment Professionals, a Saskatoon recruiting, and employment agency.
The managing director of that agency says the positive job numbers for women align with what they are seeing.
Hanif Hemani says once businesses started opening up more during the pandemic, the number of jobs increased to help companies catch up on the time lost and many of those roles traditionally filled by women.
“We’re seeing more of those administrative tasks coming back online. In many cases they’re temporary in nature so looking at three, four, five, six months just to get through the backlog of stuff that’s been piling up,” Hemani told CTV News.
He is optimistic into the future too as he expects some of those temporary jobs to result in longer term employment.
According to the report, employment for Saskatchewan men declined in almost all age categories in January.
The reason the numbers may show a decline in employment for men, according to Hemani, is because the traditionally male dominated jobs like those in light industrial or construction have slowed due to a variety of economic factors.
He also points to the fact that jobs like administrative or office jobs can be done remotely in some cases which is desirable for women who can be home with children.
Jeremy Harrison, Saskatchewan’s minister responsible for immigration and career training, said that Saskatchewan’s economy staying open more than other jurisdictions in Canada is one of the reasons for the positive numbers.
