There were about 4,000 fewer jobs in Saskatchewan in October compared to September, according to the latest labour report.
Full-time employment declined by 4,500 in the province, while the number of part-time positions grew by 400, Statistics Canada said in the report released Friday. The unemployment rate in Saskatchewan fell 0.3 percentage points to 5.9 per cent.
On a year-over-year basis, employment was virtually unchanged in the province, and the unemployment rate decreased by 1.1 percentage points.
“Like Alberta, the unemployment rate in Saskatchewan has not returned to the rates observed in the fall of 2014, just prior to the oil-related downturn,” StatsCan said in the report.
Saskatchewan’s unemployment rate stood at 3.5 per cent in November 2014, and reached a high of seven per cent in October 2016.
Nationally, employment increased by 35,000 in October – with the largest gains in Quebec, Alberta and Manitoba – and the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 6.3 per cent.
