Sask. employment rate increased in July: StatsCan

Federal job numbers for July say Saskatchewan's employment rate rose by about 2.5 per cent over data from June.

The province's unemployment rate fell to 9.3 per cent as of the week of July 12 to 18, according to the datadistributed by Statistics Canada.

"By then businesses and workplaces across Canada were continuing to reopen, building on the resumption of economic activities that began in May and continued in June," the report said.

Although employment rose in July over June, it was still down five per cent from July 2019.

Saskatchewan's employment growth is about even with the federal numbers, which showed an increase of about 2.4 per cent increase in the employment rate nationally. There were roughly 56,800 persons unemployed in Saskatchewan during July 2020.

The national employment rate now sits seven per cent lower than it was in February at pre-COVID levels.