REGINA -- The province of Saskatchewan lost more than 20,000 jobs in March, according to new numbers released by Statistics Canada.
The labour force report shows 20,900 jobs lost from February to March 2020.
The province has 19,300 fewer jobs when compared to March of 2019.
The largest losses were in part-time employment, the report shows. Part-time employment fell by 15,000 jobs from February to March. The report also shows a loss of 6,100 jobs.
Saskatchewan’s unemployment sits at 7.3 per cent in March, the StatCan report shows. In March 2019, the province was at 5 per cent unemployment rate.
The province declared a state of emergency on March 18. Since then, public health measures have closed public-facing services at non-essential businesses.
StatsCan used March 15 to 21 as a sample week.
Premier Scott Moe announced emergency support for small businesses on Thursday afternoon. He said the job losses in March occurred early on in the pandemic, and he expects significant losses in April.
“We are expecting as those restrictions came into full force after this Statistics Canada report, we will see job losses in Saskatchewan and across Canada,” Moe said.
Across the country, more than 1 million Canadians lost their jobs in the month of March.
