Prince Albert and North left out of job creation, says NDP

“It’s particularly pronounced for what Stats. Can. refers to as PA and Northern region,” she stated.

Month over month, 1,900 jobs have been lost in Prince Albert and the north and 2,400 this year.

Those numbers are backed up by the province’s economic dashboard which shows job creation and growth in Saskatchewan, but mainly in Saskatoon, followed by Yorkton.

The Saskatchewan dashboard shows Prince Albert and northern Saskatchewan with a 2.4 per cent reduction compared to 2023 in available jobs.

This screenshot shows the change in the job situation for Feb. 2024. Prince Albert is far right.

Saskatchewan-wide, most of the job losses that have happened are in agriculture (15 per cent), utilities (13 per cent) and forestry (7 per cent).

Gains have been seen in the sectors of other (13 per cent) and transportation (7 per cent).

According to the Prince Albert Chamber of Commerce, however, businesses are looking for staff, but it is skilled workers they need. Which skills are needed is highly dependent on the location.

In Humboldt, for instance, the ongoing push for the Jansen potash mine is creating a need for a certain set of skills. At the same time, in Prince Albert, businesses are looking for workers with knowledge of technology, trades and health.

“Trades and health are definitely up there, but a growing trend is IT,” CEO Patty Hughes said.

In a recent Chamber member poll, businesses in the city are positive about the economy moving forward.

Hughes also said that businesses identified that they would train staff themselves to get the skills they need.

“Overall, the businesses are very positive. There’s lots of opportunity here in Prince Albert,” Hughes said.

Other promised jobs in the forestry sector have not happened. The pulp and OSB mills northeast of the city were to have been operational by now. Despite multiple requests for comment from both mills, the province and the city, no updates have been provided for over a year.

Young said that the first thing that needs to happen is that the province needs to acknowledge there is an issue in northern Saskatchewan.

“The first step in addressing any problem is admitting that you have a problem. I’ve been the official opposition critic for jobs for four years now, and this is not an anomaly. This is not month-over-month variation,” she said.

Jordann Tulloch has been looking for work in Prince Albert for months and is not getting anywhere.

She left her previous job in July 2023 and since then, has applied for anywhere from 50 to 75 jobs in areas like office administration, gas jockey, night shelf stocker, porter at the hospital, janitor, kennel attendant and pilot truck driver.

“I started job searching in August of 2023 and I’ve used Indeed, SaskJobs, the Job Bank, and even employer websites. I’ve had only a handful of interviews, but nothing has stuck,” Tulloch said.

“With being young I thought wouldn’t be an issue finding work, but I came to find nowadays you need some sort of education to get into anything.”

Tulloch, age 23, is living with her parents and her five-year-old son on employment insurance income and says she can’t afford to move out with no job.

She is limiting her social life and trying to save as much money as she can for when her benefits end. She still must pay for her car payments, insurance, groceries and the credit card bills she got while waiting for her EI to begin.

“For me, it’s been very discouraging. I know there’s a lot of employers who think the younger people don’t want to work. I’m not like that. I love working, it gives me a sense of responsibility and I strive to do my best,” she said.

A recent release by the province shows a more detailed breakdown of changes by industry in Saskatchewan.

When looking at the SaskJobs website for Prince Albert, it appears that about 1,000 jobs are listed.

However, when broken down some employers, such as Canadian Tire, have listed 54 jobs as taking applications at least three times. Similarly, McDonald’s has listed 59 jobs, virtually every position in all three locations (including Walmart).

The correctional service is hiring 52 positions and another 33 are part-time work providing parental care to youth in the criminal justice system.

Over 100 jobs are posted by the Saskatchewan Health Authority for highly-skilled work such as psychiatric nurses and have been posted for months if not years.

Party City, owned by Canadian Tire, posted 30 positions. Another 20 are seasonal jobs with the City of Prince Albert and are only available to those returning to a post-secondary institution in September. Similarly, another 12 jobs have been posted for summer museum interpreters.

“It doesn’t take a Stats. Can. survey for people to look around the province, look around their community, look at what they’re seeing, whether it’s closed small businesses, whether it’s whether it’s increases in crime rates and know that things aren’t going well for Saskatchewan,” Young said.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

by Susan McNeil

Prince Albert and North left out of job creation, says NDP

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