The latest figures from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey show the number of people employed in southeast Saskatchewan dropped in September. This, as the country, and province gained jobs.

The drop in the region coincided with the return to school for many people, as the number of people in the labour force (people who are either employed or actively looking for work) dropped as well in September. The decline in the number of people working saw the unemployment rate increase from 4.4 percent to 4.5 percent. It was still well below the provincial unemployment rate.

Across the province, there were 1800 jobs gained, primarily part-time employment. The increase in the number of people working resulted in the unemployment rate for the province, when adjusted for seasonality, going down from 6.7 percent to 6.4 percent. This mirrored a drop by the federal unemployment rate.

Nationally, the unemployment rate fell from 6.0 percent to 5.9 percent. It was driven by the creation of 63,000 net jobs, primarily in Ontario and British Columbia.