The jobless rate in Saskatchewan dropped as the province’s economy added 9,500 positions in April, Statistics Canada reported on Friday.
StatCan said that pushed the province’s unemployment rate down to 6.6 per cent, tied with Quebec for the lowest in the country.
When compared to April 2020, Saskatchewan has added 58,700 jobs, an increase of 11.9 per cent, the agency reported.
“Saskatchewan led the country in both job creation and unemployment rate in April, a month when most other provinces saw their job numbers decline and unemployment go up,” Immigration and Career Training Minister Jeremy Harrison said in a statement Friday.
“We are leading Canada’s economic recovery having attracted recent large private sector investments worth billions of dollars that will create even more jobs and opportunity for Saskatchewan people.”
The province said major year-over-year employment gains were made in trade, construction and private sectors.
The Saskatchewan Party government added youth employment was up 32.4 per cent from April 2020, and off-reserve Indigenous employment increased 13.9 per cent.
April’s increase in jobs in the province contrasted the national numbers.
Statistics Canada said the country’s economy lost 207,000 jobs in April as a new rise in COVID-19 cases led to renewed public health restrictions that closed businesses.
The national unemployment rate rose to 8.1 per cent in April from 7.5 per cent in March.
—wIth a file from The Canadian Press
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