Saskatchewan’s unemployment rate is holding steady, according to the latest labour force numbers from Statistics Canada – but Prince Albert is still shedding jobs.
The data agency reported that 2,400 fewer people were working in March than in February, province-wide, pushing the unemployment rate up slightly to 6.7 per cent. On a seasonally adjusted basis, however, unemployment remained unchanged at 6.0 per cent.
Since March of last year, Saskatchewan has created about 2,000 jobs.
In Prince Albert, the unemployment rate jumped above 12 per cent in March, as 200 jobs were lost. That’s up from 10.4 per cent last month and 10 per cent last year.
The higher unemployment rate was partially driven by an expanding labour force, however, as more Prince Albertans searched for work.
For Larry Fladager, CEO of the Prince Albert and District Chamber of Commerce, the downturn likely has a lot to do with the government sector. Prince Albert, he said, is a service centre dependent on sectors like health care and education.
For more on this story, see the April 8-10 weekend edition of the Prince Albert Daily Herald.
