As economic recovery continues amid the coronavirus pandemic, Saskatchewan has the lowest unemployment rate in the country.
Job numbers released by Statistics Canada Friday show Saskatchewan’s jobless rate at 7.9 per cent for August. Among the provinces, close behind are Manitoba at 8.1 per cent, Quebec at 8.7 per cent and 9.4 per cent. The rest are still sitting in the double digits.
Of the 603,400 people in the province’s seasonally adjusted labour force, 555,800 were working last month — 456,600 held full-time jobs and 99.2 held part-time jobs.
According to the province, there were 4,700 more jobs in Saskatchewan in August than there were in July.
“With the lowest unemployment rate in the nation, it’s clear people are getting back to work and helping our economy recover and grow,” Immigration and Career Training Minister Jeremy Harrison said in a statement.
Nationally, unemployment is down as well, falling 0.7 percentage points to 10.2 per cent. This is the fourth consecutive month of gains and Statistics Canada’s data finds employment across the country to be within 1.1 million of its pre-COVID-19 February level.
With employment in Saskatchewan now at 95.7 per cent, the province is touting the job recovery rate as the third-highest, behind New Brunswick at 96.4 per cent and Manitoba at 95.9 per cent.