Sask. has highest job vacancy rate in Canada: report

Sask. has highest job vacancy rate WATCH: According to a report from TD Economics, Sask. has the highest job vacancy rate in the nation.

Saskatchewan has the highest job vacancy rate in Canada, according to a recent report from TD Economics.

One Saskatoon business is feeling the effects of the labour market shortages.

“It’s been a troublesome piece of what we do everyday, filling certainly skilled and unskilled positions, at times, have been difficult,” Brennen Mills, partner with Saskatoon Fire and Flood, told CTV News.

According to the report, one of the major reasons for Saskatchewan’s job vacancy rate is the labour force population in the province hasn’t grown as fast as other provinces in the country.It says high commodity prices have boosted economic growth in the prairie provinces, causing a tight labour market.

“The economy doing well is sort of a two-edge sword. On one hand we’ve got lots of jobs available, and on the other hand we just don’t have enough people to fill them,” Hanif Hemani, managing director with Express Employment Professionals, said.

The TD report says Saskatchewan’s labour population hasn’t grown as fast as other provinces.

In a statement to CTV News, the Ministry of Immigration and career training said the provincial government is, “actively implementing targeted initiatives to enable job growth and train, recruit and retain the labour force Saskatchewan needs to support its economy.”

Hemani said one way to build the work force is to hire newcomers.

“Albeit their education and a lot of their job experiences come from overseas, there’s a lot of transferable skills, and they’re willing to learn. So I think we have to be a little bit more open minded for newcomers,” he said.

Mills said recruiting people who have recently immigrated to Canada has helped.

“Definitely a new found work force that we’re utilizing,” Mills said.

TD says it is forecasting an economic slowdown next year, but if commodities remain favourable, labour markets in the prairies could remain “tighter than the rest of Canada”.

B.C. has the lowest job vacancy rate at around .5 per cent, according to the TD report.