Paul Martin's Business Update - January 13th

Paul Martin's Business Update - January 13th

Despite all the angst generated by the lay-offs announced by Potash Corp, the provincial economy as a whole is still creating jobs. In fact it actually appears the pace of the growth is increasing.

This is an interesting contrast to what we’re seeing in other parts of the country. The monthly figures on employment show a decline across the nation and even Alberta posted a loss of 12,000 jobs from November to December. Saskatchewan, on the other hand, saw an increase of roughly 2,000 bringing the annual increase to 14,000. In other words a disproportionately large percentage of the new jobs in the year came in the last month when many were focused on lay-offs or job reductions.

That 14,000 job increase in the past 12 months – which translates into a 2.5 per cent growth rate – was the sharpest rise in Canada, according to the federal agency and it left the province with a 3.9 per cent unemployment rate, the lowest in the country by a considerable distance, basically a full percentage point lower than Alberta.

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