(File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Glenn Hicks

employment

Region sees slight uptick in jobs

Nov 8, 2019 | 2:00 PM

There’s slightly better news on the job scene for the Prince Albert and North region – which includes The Battlefords and Melfort – as well as signs of continued improvement on the provincial front.

According to the October numbers from Statistics Canada the regional unemployment rate improved to 6.8 per cent. This time last year 7.2 per cent of the workforce was jobless in this region.

There was a net gain of 600 jobs year-over-year as the employment figures moved up from 98,000 to 99,700. However, the total number of unemployed people also rose from 6,500 in Oct. 2018 to 7,600 last month.

Meanwhile, Saskatchewan’s jobless rate improved to a seasonally adjusted 5.1 per cent from 6.1 per cent in October, 2018 with 11,100 more jobs created year-over-year. The rate for September was 5.3 per cent.

According to the government, October marked Saskatchewan’s 15th consecutive month of job growth, with the year-over-year numbers reflecting a 1.9 per cent increase from October, 2018.

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Female employment increased by 5,700 (+2.2 per cent) and off-reserve Aboriginal employment increased by 4,400 (+9.5 per cent) since October, 2018.

“Saskatchewan continues to experience one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country and below the national average, despite external headwinds,” Immigration and Career Training Minister Jeremy Harrison said.

The national unemployment rate is 5.5 per cent.

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow