By Jaryn Vecchio

Tough summer for job numbers across P.A. & Northern Saskatchewan, ag sector hit hard

Sep 8, 2023 | 1:11 PM

It was a tough summer for Prince Albert and Northern Saskatchewan when it came to new jobs.

According to Statistics Canada, there were around 4,700 fewer people working in the region at the end of August than at the start of June.

One of the harder-hit sectors was agriculture as it lost around 1,000 workers.

Bob Reid, who farms in the Smeaton area between Prince Albert and Nipawin, believes this is because most farms have very few full-time employees and instead focus on hiring part-time work when seeding and harvesting are underway.

“I had a guy hired from Moose Jaw…he lasted one day. He said it wasn’t up to (his) liking and thought it was year-round,” said Reid.

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If this was the only reason, the numbers in August would have seen a jump as harvest got underway across the province. However, August saw the biggest decrease, a loss of around 700 workers, out of the three summer months.

In fact, the roughly 6,000 people working in the sector in the region is the lowest it’s ever been according to Statistics Canada which has data dating back to 2006.

Reid mentioned farmers may have to start looking at bringing in more incentives to entice people to the sector.

“If you want a guy, go to your bookkeeper, set it up, you pay him year-round, you pay him his pension, you pay unemployment, worker’s comp, you pay for everything. You even have to provide housing.”

He said this is exactly what he did when looking for a full-time employee. He ended up hiring a South African man after he only got one application in two years from someone in Canada.

If things continue, there could be a staffing shortage across the sector as many current farmers are close to retirement.

Reid thinks there’s a possibility farmers will start looking at introducing more automation to eliminate positions since they can’t fill them.

“These guys who don’t want to work for a farmer and make a decent wage… it might come back to haunt everybody, not just the farmer but the person looking for that job,” he said.

Meanwhile, other sectors that had tough summers include educational services, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing, manufacturing, and professional, scientific, and technical services.

Each had around 800 fewer workers at the end of August than at the start of June with educational services seeing the largest drop at roughly 1,800. One of the main reasons for this was summer vacation.

In total, 93,000 people in the region currently have a job. This is the lowest it’s been since the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic: May and June 2020.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow