A marginal jump in unemployment for southwestern Saskatchewan last month.

Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate for the region that includes Swift Current and Moose Jaw rose to 4.2 per cent, an increase of 0.9 per cent from February of 2017.

The decrease of roughly 2,700 jobs in a year's time has pushed the southwest out of the top five regions for best unemployment for the first time since Septemeber of 2017. While the southwest is no longer in the top five, it still ranks seventh out of 66 regions in Canada.

Although the southwest's job market didn't fare the best, both Canada and Saskatchewan saw large improvements in their employment rates in a year-over-year comparison.

The country's unemployment rate dropped 1 per cent and now sits at 5.9 per cent and the province's unemployment dropped 0.5 per cent to now sit at 6.1 per cent.

Included in Februarys figures is the southwest's population which sits at 81,300 - a decrease of 500 residents from last year. Of the 81,300 people, 52,300 are in the labour force with 50,000 of them working and 2,200 are unemployed.