REGINA — The number of people receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits in Saskatchewan in November decreased 2,530, or 24.3 per cent, to 7,900 from 10,430 in November 2010, the third-largest decrease among the provinces, said Statistics Canada in a report released Thursday.

Only Alberta, which saw a 38-per-cent decrease, and Ontario, which had a 24.4-per-cent decrease, had larger decreases, while B.C. was tied with Saskatchewan for third with a 24.3-per-cent decrease.

Saskatchewan also saw a 2.2-per-cent decrease in the total number of EI claims from a year ago, the federal agency said.

As a percentage of the total labour force population, Saskatchewan has the second-fewest number of people receiving EI benefits in Canada at 1.2 per cent; Alberta is the lowest at one per cent, the province said in a press release. It marks the 20th consecutive month the number of Saskatchewan people receiving regular EI benefits has dropped year-over-year, according to the government release.

In Saskatchewan, all eight large centres recorded monthly year-over-year declines in the number of EI recipients, the largest occurring in Regina and Saskatoon, StatsCan said.

In Regina, the number of beneficiaries fell by 430 or 35.2 per cent to 800, continuing the downward trend that began in summer 2010. In Saskatoon, 1,300 people received benefits, down 490 or 26.9 per cent, the 12th consecutive year-over-year monthly decline.

Regina currently has the lowest unemployment rate among Canadian cities at 3.8 per cent, while Saskatoon is fifth-lowest at 5.4 per cent.

"The latest drop in the number of EI recipients from Saskatchewan reflects the continued strength of our province's labour market," Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration Minister Rob Norris said in a press release.

But Doug Elliott of Sask Trends Monitor isn't so sure the falling number of EI recipients is necessarily indicative of a healthy job market. "Using this as a measure of the strength of the labour market is a mistake because this (number of EI beneficiaries) is going down a lot faster than the number of unemployed."

Elliott noted the percentage of unemployed who are receiving EI benefits has fallen to 27 per cent in November from 34 per cent in November 2010. "I think they're running out of benefits or they're becoming unemployed in a way that makes them ineligible to receive EI. So the number of unemployed is not dropping as fast as the number of EI beneficiaries."

Read more: http://www.leaderpost.com/business/Sask+sees+recipients+claims+decline+November/6020143/story.html#ixzz1k0znR3xx

With an economy that is the best in Canada, and an unemployment rate near the lowest in the country, Saskatchewan is quickly becoming a hot destination for temporary workers, immigrants, and others.

Brad Wall, Saskatchewan’s Premier, explains that Saskatchewan has some of the world’s most sought-after commodities, including oil and agriculture products, and 46% of the world’s potash, a key fertilizer helping to feed the world’s growing population.

“[My government] supported the economy by reducing income and property taxes, paying off debt, investing in infrastructure and improving quality of life,” said Wall. His government is also looking forward to capitalize on other strengths, including uranium, clean coal, crop science, and biotechnology.

Because of the increase of immigrants settling in Saskatchewan, the province is receiving more of the share of federal funds allocated for immigrant settlement.

Further, Rupen Pandya, the assistant deputy minister of immigration services in Saskatchewan, said that, “by this year, 100 per cent of labour force growth will be led by immigration.”

The majority of immigrants to Saskatchewan come through their Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), but there are also a lot who come as temporary workers and international students.

Saskatchewan is expecting 9000 new residents in the 2011-2012 window.

As of December 5th, new candidates to the Quebec Skilled Worker program who want to receive points for language for French and/or English, will have to submit test results along with their application.

For French, only the following tests are valid:

Test d'évaluation de Français (TEF)

Test d'évaluation de Français adapté au Québec (TEFAQ)

Test de connaissance du français (TCF) pour le Québec

Diplôme d'études en langue française (DELF)/Diplôme approfondi de langue française (DALF)

For English, only the following test is valid:

International English Language Testing System (IELTS)

Only in the case of French can a spouse be awarded points, and in this case he/she must also take a French test from the establishments mentioned above, and submit results along with the principal applicant's results.

This change is not retroactive, so applications received at Quebec Immigration visa offices before December 5th (or postmarked before December 5th) do not need to submit language test scores.

However, the Quebec Ministry of Immigration and Cultural Communities suggests that all candidates whose applications were received before December 5th also submit test scores to confirm their language skills in French and English; this can help the candidate and accelerate the processing of their application.

Those whose applications were in the mail on December 5th will be invited to submit language test results in the coming months.

These changes are universal, applying to all applicants, no matter whether they come from a French or English speaking country or not.

The government states that its aim is to standardize testing to make it more fair for all applicants - whereas previously tests were not required and it was left up to individual visa officers to evaluate each candidate at an interview.

Statistics Canada reports today that November's full-time employment in Saskatchewan increased by 7,800 jobs compared to November 2010.

Total full-time employment at 435,600 is the highest on record for the month of November as a result of part-time jobs changing to full-time employment opportunities.

"Saskatchewan workers have a wide range of employment opportunities," Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration Minister Rob Norris said. "Today there are more than 9,300 positions posted on SaskJobs.ca."

Off-reserve Aboriginal employment had a year-over-year increase of 4,400 jobs (12.2 per cent), for six months of gains.

Saskatchewan's unemployment rate increased to 5.1 per cent in the month of November from 4.1 per cent in October. The unemployment rate is second in the country behind Alberta at 5.0 per cent and well below the national average of 7.4 per cent.

Regina's unemployment rate was 3.5 per cent, the lowest in the country and Saskatoon's (5.5 per cent) was sixth lowest. 

Saskatchewan's average wages are the second highest in the country for the first time since records have been recorded and, for the first time, passed Ontario in weekly earnings. Average weekly earnings were $906.22 in September 2011, the second highest among all provinces, behind Alberta, and above the national average of $872.75.

"Saskatchewan continues to offer competitive wages for its workers in comparison with the rest of Canada," Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration Minister Rob Norris said. "The fact that our average weekly earnings are second highest in the country speaks to our strong economy and why this is a great time to be working in Saskatchewan."

Today's figures on average weekly earnings were released by Statistics Canada. Saskatchewan's average weekly earnings increased by 6.9 per cent compared to September 2010, the highest increase among all provinces and higher than the national increase of 1.1 per cent.

Over this period, Saskatchewan's real wage rate (adjusted for inflation) increased by 3.5 per cent, compared to a national decrease of 2.1 per cent. Earnings were also up from the previous month, with a 2.4 per cent increase compared to 0.3 per cent decline nationally.

http://gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=1383cd74-33ff-44e5-afc0-7b066c7a38da