Saskatoon economy continues pandemic recovery

The Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA) says the city’s economy has regained more than half of its losses from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The economic authority on Thursday released its latest Saskatoon Economic Recovery Tracker, which shows the region’s economy has recovered to 58.5 per cent of pre-COVID-19 levels.

In December, the tracker showed the economy had recovered by 48.2 per cent.

“Surpassing the halfway point in our economic recovery is a significant milestone,” SREDA CEO Alex Fallon said in a news release.

“This progress has been driven by our entrepreneurial spirit, diversity and world-class natural resources sector that have helped support Saskatoon’s economy in these unprecedented times.”

SREDA said the tide is turning for Saskatoon’s economy roughly a year after COVID-19 arrived in the province.

The economic recovery tracker uses data sourced from Statistics Canada, the Conference Board of Canada, the International Monetary Fund and other industry associations.

The release from SREDA detailed three economic drivers and two elements stagnating further growth.

The pandemic’s first wave had a smaller impact on the economy than originally estimated, and the recovery figures were nearly two times higher than the first estimates.

Retail sales, manufacturing shipments and residential investments have all recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but recovery within each of those sectors has been uneven, with small businesses “bearing the brunt of the impact,” SREDA noted.

A recent update from Statistics Canada on unemployment numbers negatively impacted the recovery tracker, as employment is down by 15,900 jobs.

A stagnant tourism and hospitality industry due to pandemic measures is also damaging the region’s overall economy.

“While significant challenges remain, especially in sectors such as tourism, we are optimistic about the road ahead and continue to expect the economy to fully recover at some point in the future,” Fallon said.