The off-reserve First Nations unemployment rate in Saskatchewan has jumped to nearly 22 per cent, an increase of 3.6 per cent from a year ago.
The December jobless numbers were released this morning by Statistics Canada.
The overall Aboriginal unemployment rate in the province, which includes both Metis and First Nations, is 14.6 per cent. The First Nations rate is 21.8 per cent, while the Metis unemployment rate is 9.7 per cent.
The non-Aboriginal unemployment rate in Saskatchewan stood at 4.7 per cent. Overall, Saskatchewan’s unemployment rate was 6.4 per cent in December, representing a slight improvement from a year ago.
There were 37,000 people unemployed in Saskatchewan last month. This is an increase of 3,200 from November, but is 400 less than the number unemployed in December 2016.
The total workforce last month was 568,500 people, up 300 from December 2016.
(PHOTO: Saskatchewan flag. Photo courtesy of shop.flagshop.com)