Saskatchewan’s employment fall by 6,500 jobs from September to October, and the NDP Government is blaming the Sask. Party’s poor management of the COVID-19 pandemic for the loss of jobs.

Jobs critic Aleana Young said the Saskatchewan Party needs to get the fourth wave of COVID-19 under control, so they can address the job numbers they call the ‘worst-in-the-nation.’

“We know we have some of the worst COVID numbers in the country, we have the worst death rate in the country, we have the lowest vaccination uptake, and now we have the worst jobs record in the country yet again,” Young said. “Since the start of the pandemic, 12,000 people, 12,000 full-time jobs have been lost. This government refuses to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control, and until they do, there is absolutely no way to get our worst in the country economy numbers back on track and headed in the right direction.”

The employment rate dropped to 63.1 per cent from 63.8 per cent, though it is still one point higher than it was in July of this year.

Despite the employment rate going in the wrong direction, the unemployment rate dropped a little to 6.2 from 6.3 per cent.

Compared to the rest of the nation, Saskatchewan has the fourth lowest unemployment rate among the provinces.

Young said that though the unemployment rate may remain low, people are still losing jobs.

“While the Government might thump its chest and point to being only down 0.1 per cent, this is void by the fact that we’ve had nearly 8,000 people leave the workforce in the past month.”

Looking to Canada as a whole, the country has surpassed its pre-pandemic employment levels, with Saskatchewan remaining below its pre-pandemic level, with around 11,500 jobs.

For the province, this ends two consecutive months of job growth.