By paNOW Staff

Saskatchewan job numbers, unemployment rate increase

Nov 6, 2010 | 12:30 PM

October was a record setting month for the number of people working in Saskatchewan, despite an increase in the unemployment rate.

Last month there were 525,800 people working in the province — an increase of 5,200 year-over-year.

“More than 11,300 full-time jobs have been established in the course of the last year,” said Minister of Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration Rob Norris.

Many of new jobs were in the private sector, something Norris sees as a plus.

“These are sustainable jobs that are reflective of the robust nature of Saskatchewan's economic growth that's under way,” Norris said.

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October is the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year increases in the province.

But, 4,400 more people are without a job this year, even though our province still has second lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Canada at 5.7 per cent. The national average is 7.9 per cent.

The NDP is blaming the government for the increase of 0.2 per cent, saying it's a result of the province scrapping job training programs.

“Some of the cuts that we've seen over the last year to employment and training programs, I think we're starting to see that now,” said MLA Cam Broten, the NDP's critic for Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration.

And while the government claims that people moving to Saskatchewan is accounting for the increase, Broten doesn't agree.

“Migration can explain some of the numbers, but it certainly can't explain all of it,” he said.

“And, when we have seen changes to programs like Job Start Future Skills or the Aboriginal Employment Development Program — which has had a negative effect on workers and those looking for work — I think it would be good to not lose sight of those changes as well, which have not has a positive effect on Saskatchewan people.”

Among major cities, Regina and Saskatoon had the second and fourth lowest jobless rates — at 4.9 per cent and 5.5 per cent, respectively — in the country.