Saskatchewan’s unemployment climbed in 2016, according to new numbers released by Statistics Canada.
By December 2016, Saskatchewan recorded a 6.5 per cent unemployment rate, which is below the national average of 6.9 per cent, but still one per cent more than last year’s unemployment rate recorded in December 2015.
Throughout the year, 10,300 full-time jobs were lost and 2,500 part-time jobs were created in the province.
University of Regina associate economics professor Jason Childs said this isn’t a good sign.
“A lot of the people that have lost their full-time jobs, if they’re lucky enough to find a job there’s an increasing likelihood it will be a part time job,” Childs said.
“That’s not good for their income, it’s not good for their lifestyle, and it’s not good for a whole host of things.”
He doesn’t think it’s likely that this trend will continue due to signs Saskatchewan’s economy is stabilizing, but it’s a possibility.
“If these trends continue it’s going to be really hard on Saskatchewan. It’s going to be hard on government coffers because you lose income tax revenues and we’re going to see migration,” Childs said.
Saskatchewan’s labour force also fell by 1,100 since the same time last year.
Nationally, Statistics Canada showed 153,700 net new part-time jobs last year and just 60,400 full-time positions.
Even with resource prices showing signs of improvement, the effects of the drop will be felt for some time according to Economy Minister Jeremy Harrison.
“Forecasters are predicting that even for next year we’ll be seeing increases, but that being said we are going to still see impacts from the sustained downturn in energy and commodity prices,” Harrison said.
Regina’s unemployment rate was recorded as 5 per cent, compared to 3.8 per cent last year. Saskatoon’s unemployment rate was higher at 7.3 per cent by December 2016, compared to 6.1 per cent in December 2015.
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