The labour force stats from Statistics Canada for the month of February have been released.

The province of Saskatchewan had the fourth lowest unemployment rate among the provinces at 6.6% an increase of .7% from this time last year. Canada's unemployment rate is 6.9 %, a decrease of 0.4% from February of 2017.

Saskatchewan's southwest region of the province that includes Swift Current and Moose Jaw has been recognized as the second lowest unemployment rate region in Canada this past month.

The unemployment rate for the southwest region of the province is 3.3%, a rate decrease of 0.7% from February of 2016.

Although the population for the region has seen a decline of approximately 500 residents since this time last year, there are still lots of positive numbers.

February of 2017 saw employment increase by 500 in a year-over-year comparison in the southwest region,

The province of Saskatchewan also saw an increase of 8,000 jobs created, up 1.4%, the highest growth rate of any province in the country.

Saskatchewan's youth unemployment rate was 10.3% (seasonally adjusted), second lowest among the provinces, behind British Columbia at 8.7%.

The table below with statistics from Stats Canada will help provide a side-by-side comparison between 2016 and 2017.