Saskatchewan leading the nation in retail trade: report

Saskatchewan leads the nation in retail trade.

The province ranked first for month-over-month growth, making five times the national average to more than $2.1 billion in September as compared to August, according to a Statistics Canada report released Nov. 24.

“Retail trade growth is a key element to ensuring the province’s economy continues to thrive,” said Jeremy Harrison, Trade and Export Development Minister in a news release.

The figures include e-commerce sales, and are collected by a monthly retails trade survey on sales from a sample of retailers across the province.

Saskatchewan has also been making impressive gains elsewhere. The province has the highest GDP growth across the country at 6 per cent, the release said.

The news comes amid constraints in rural and remote regions, predominantly north of Saskatoon, where inflation, rising cost of living and doing business has hit communities particularly hard.

“Today’s increase, coupled with reported growth in investment in building construction, is further proof that Saskatchewan has the sustainably produced resources the world needs,” Harrison said.

Figures from last week’s Labour Force Survey also indicated Saskatchewan has the lowest unemployment rate in Canada with 19,300 new jobs year-over-year compared to October 2022., the release said.

This story was originally published in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. It is republished under a Creative Commons license as part of the Local Journalism Initiative.