The latest report by Statistics Canada shows the labour market is continuing to become increasingly tighter. Saskatoon’s unemployment rate fell to 4.4% in June from 4.7%
Provincially, the Saskatchewan unemployment rate was pushed lower to 3.9% from 4.8% in May, a level that hasn’t been since before the 2014 Oil Crash.
One of the contributing impacts to the tight labour market is the retirement of the baby boomers. And the largest group of this demographic is set to exit the workforce over the next seven years. Moreover, Saskatchewan has continued to see a decline in inter-provincial migration, losing people in 2021 and Q1 2022, with 1,358 more people leaving than entering the province.
The jobs report comes just before another decision by the Bank of Canada to potentially raise its key interest rate again. Many economists are predicting a possible hike of 0.75 percentage points to 2.25% to rein in inflation. In Saskatchewan, the annual pace of inflation rose to 7.0% in May, and 6.6% in Saskatoon, the fastest year-over-year rise in 31 years since 1991.
