Employment dips in Prince Albert and the north
To solve Prince Albert’s unemployment problem, the city needs to think regionally.
That’s the strategy city manager Jim Toye wants to take following the latest data showing Prince Albert and the north’s unemployment rate going up by 1.7 per cent from last year’s 7.6 per cent. The estimates, which were provided by Statistics Canada, also showed the city’s labour force dropped by roughly 3,000 from 108,600 in 2016.
Toye said the city needs to be a place where people can come work and play. One way to accomplish this is through the implementation of a regional economic development authority through partnerships with urban and rural municipalities and First Nation communities.
“It’s not important to us that it’s got to be right in the city of Prince Albert,” he said. “If it is in the area, we know a good portion of those people are going to live and spend money in Prince Albert. That’s one of the initiatives we will be starting to get off the hop here in 2017.”