Saskatchewan economic update - September 2024
A quick review of the state of Saskatchewan's economy
Economic indicators for Saskatchewan - September 2024
It's been quite a pleasant fall in Saskatchewan and I wanted to get out a quick note on some economic stats for the province that are also fairly pleasant. I'm working on a few topics that are more involved than this quick statistical update using some new or rare open data sources, but for now, let's take a look at some economic data from Saskatchewan over the last quarter in the table below.
Inflation
After roughly 3 years of rapidly rising prices, it appears that inflation in Saskatchewan has begun to level out within the Bank of Canada's policy range of 1 - 3% per year inflation. As a reminder, if you've somehow managed to forget between trips to the grocery store, inflation topped out at around 8% on an annual basis in late 2022. While measures taken by the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates (and, therefore, put downward pressure on inflation) have largely been successful, the overall price level in Saskatchewan has risen a total of just over 16% since the start of 2020. Statistics Canada attributes the recent slowdown in price inflation to falling gas prices - something that has been a welcome change from a consumer perspective.
Unemployment
For Saskatchewan, unemployment continues to be a good news story, with just one province in Canada, Quebec, reporting a lower rate of unemployment than the province. Saskatchewan's current unemployment rate of 5.7% is up from 4.9% a year previously, however, the province continues to trend near the lowest rates in Canada. The labour force participation rate, the share of the population aged 15 and up actively working or looking for work, has remained about the same over this period at between 67.5% and 66.7%.
What else am I working on?
While these quick economic updates are fun, I have a few items that I’m working on that involve some more unique or uncommon data sources. These are:
Wildfires in Western Canada - how big of an outlier was the 2023 wildfire season?
Crime and perceptions of crime - how safe is it to live in Canada?
Housing affordability in Canada - a deeper dive into the numbers.
Provincial credit ratings - what are they and why do they matter?
Seeking your input
Which of the topics above and mentioned elsewhere in this newsletter are of most interest to you and more. Your feedback is extremely valuable to me, so please take 2 minutes to fill out this 5 question survey.