Statistics Canada says full-time employment growth in 2019 was led by gains in Ontario at 243-thousand new jobs for the year. The increase for both full and part-time growth was 320-thousand or 1.7 per cent, which was a faster pace than 2018 at 1.1 per cent. Most of the growth was in the first three quarters of the year.

In Saskatchewan, over the course of the year, there was little change in employment following an increase in 2018. Gains in the services-producing sector were offset by losses in the goods-producing sector .

The unemployment rate in December was 5.7 per cent for both the province and for the City of Saskatoon while Regina’s rate was 6 per cent. Canada’s unemployment rate in December was 5.6 per cent.