The workforce statistics from Stats Canada for the first month of the New Year are in.

The province of Saskatchewan had the fourth lowest unemployment rate among the provinces at 6.6% an increase of 1.2% from this time last year. Canada's unemployment rate is 6.6 %, a decrease of 0.3% from January 2016.

The southwest region, which includes Swift Current and Moose Jaw has been identified as the second lowest unemployment rate region in Canada once again this past month.

The unemployment rate for the southwest region of the province is 3.3%, a rate decrease of 0.2% from January of 2016.

Although the population for the region is down approximately 600 residents since this time last year, there are still lots of positive numbers.

Both the labour force and the amount of employed individuals in the southwest region are up.

January of 2017 saw the labour force increased by 200, while the amount of employed individuals rose by 300 in a year-over-year comparison

Saskatchewan's youth unemployment rate was the third lowest among the provinces at 11.0% (seasonally adjusted).

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