Statistics Canada had some more good news for Saskatchewan on Friday.
Saskatchewan's building permits rose 47.9 per cent over last August, the biggest increase among the provinces and double the national average of 22 per cent.
Permits were up for residential and non-residential sectors. Residential permits rose by 49 per cent over last year while non-resident permits were up by 46.4 per cent.
Month-over-month, building permits were up 31.7 per cent between August 2012 and July 2012. Saskatchewan also ranked first in that statistic, well ahead of the 7.9 per cent recorded nationally.
Economy Minister Bill Boyd was pleased with the news.
"The construction industry is an important part of Saskatchewan's economy and these numbers highlight the high demand in the province for construction services," he said in a press release. "These are stellar numbers, and clearly show Saskatchewan's economy continues outperforming other provinces."
It wasn’t the only good news on the day for the province from Statistics Canada.
Job figures for September 2012 indicated Saskatchewan had an increase of 10,600 jobs compared to a year ago.
Saskatchewan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in September at 4.7 per cent, well below the 7.4 per cent recorded on a national basis and second overall among the province.
There were 540,800 people working in the province, an all-time high for September. This was a two per cent growth rate, also second highest among the provinces. It’s the 10th month in a row that the numbers rose.
There were 13,500 more full-time jobs while part-time jobs actually fell by 2,900 from a year ago.
The sectors with the biggest gains were construction (6,500), educational services (4,400), agriculture (2,500), and business, building and other support services (1,400).
