SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN – Today, the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA) released two publications: the Q2-2018 Economic Dashboard for the Saskatoon Region and the Q3-2018 Consensus Economic Survey for Saskatchewan. The dashboard looks back at the previous quarter and tracks sixteen economic indicators for the Saskatoon Region, whereas the forecast looks forward provincially to projected economic growth for 2018 and 2019.

The figures from both reports suggest the Saskatoon Region economy is fairly stable overall, although provincial growth projections for 2018 have been reduced. For Q2-2018, SREDA has maintained a B- grade for the local economy.

Based on the Q3-2018 Consensus Economic Survey, SREDA is forecasting a 1.5 percent growth for Saskatchewan this year which represents a decrease of 0.5 percent from earlier projections. Looking into 2019, SREDA forecasts that Saskatchewan will grow at a rate of 1.8 percent, down from its previous forecast of 2.1 percent.

“Although our provincial growth forecast has been revised downward, not least due to ongoing challenges in the mining sector, we still see some growth, albeit it more moderate for the local economy as a whole in 2018,” said Alex Fallon, President and CEO, SREDA.

On a positive note, the Saskatoon Region continues to be a place people want to live, with population increasing 0.4 percent this quarter. Despite recent and significant job losses in the uranium sector, the labour market is showing signs of improvement with 4,100 net jobs created across all sectors so far this year, with particular seasonal gains in the agriculture and hospitality industries.

Seven reasons why the Saskatoon Region economy has shown signs of moderate growth: