November 2021 year-to-date retail trade is up by 12.1% over the same period in 2020.

• Sub-sectors that posted increases: New car dealers (8.9%), Used car dealers (51.1%), Gasoline stations (19.1%), Furniture and home furnishings stores (22.1%), Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (23.7%), Health and personal care stores (5.8%), Clothing and clothing accessories stores (22.7%), Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores (17.3%), Grocery stores (3.3%), Beer, wine and liquor stores (5.2%), General merchandise stores (14.1%), and all other (10.4%). 
• Sub-sectors that posted decreases: Electronics and appliance stores (-0.6%).

November 2021 year-to-date new motor vehicle (units) sales were up 2.8% from November 2020. New minivans, sport-utility vehicles, light and heavy trucks, vans and buses sales were up 1.9% while new passenger cars sales were also up 11.2%.

November 2021 year-to-date restaurant receipts were up 18.0% over the same period in 2020.

• Within restaurant receipts, all sub-sectors posted increases: Special food services (27.2%), Drinking places (alcoholic beverages) (5.2%), Full-service restaurants (17.7%), and Limited-service eating places (18.5%).

November 2021 year-to-date manufacturing sales were up by 44.0% over the same period in 2020. 

• All sub-sectors posted increases: Food manufacturing sales (41.5%), Machinery manufacturing sales (25.8%), Fabricated metal product manufacturing sales (6.0%), All other Manufacturing sales (53.0%).

November 2021 year-to-date wholesale trade was up 13.8% over the same period in 2020.

• Sub-sectors that posted increases were: Farm product merchant wholesalers (28.3%), Agricultural supplies merchant wholesalers (12.6%), Machinery, equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers (16.9%), Building material and supplies merchant wholesalers (12.1%), and all other (19.9%). 
• Sub-sectors that posted decreases were: Food, beverage and tobacco merchant wholesalers (-14.7%).

Total International merchandise exports were up 24.7% year-to-date December 2021 over December 2020.

• Sub-sectors that posted increases were: Farm, fishing and intermediate food products (6.8%), Energy products (73.0%), Metal ores and non-metallic minerals (21.4%), Metal and non-metallic mineral products (312.0%), Forestry products and building and packaging materials (60.4%), Industrial machinery, equipment and parts (17.4%), Electronic and electrical equipment and parts (6.8%), Motor vehicles and parts (20.8%), and Consumer goods (9.7%).
• Sub-sectors that posted decreases were: limited to Basic and industrial chemical, plastic and rubber products (-3.9%), Aircraft and other transportation equipment and parts (-51.1%), and Special transactions (-1.6%).

Consistent with strong construction activity in non-residential sectors, year-to-date January 2022 construction employment was up by 6,500 positions or 17.7% from the same period in 2021.

January 2022, total year-to-date housing starts are down by -193 units or -61.3% over the same period in 2021.

• Year-to-date increases were only observed in row (6 units or 27.3%), Year-to-date declines were noted in singles (-10 units or -14.1%), semi-detached (-8 units or -66.7%), apartment and other types (-181 units or -86.2%). Most of this drop was due to the surge in apartment units in January 2021, not replicated in January 2022.

December 2021 year-to-date building permits, a leading indicator of construction activity, are up 23.8% over the same period in 2020.

• All Sub-sectors posted increases: residential (23.6%), industrial (2.3%), commercial (25.5%), and institutional and governmental (61.6%). 

January2022 year-to-date employment in Information, culture and recreation was up 3,800 positions or 29.9% over the same period in 2021.

July 2021 year-to-date average weekly earnings in Information and cultural industries were up 6.6%.

The Q4 2021 Provincial population was up 0.23% or 2,703 persons over 2020 Q4 to 1,180,867. Contributing to population growth was a modest bounce-back in international immigration to 3,076 from 1,769 in the previous quarter and a higher than expected natural increase (births less deaths). Net inter-provincial migration has been negative every quarter since Q2 2013. 

After decreasing by -5.2% in 2020, Saskatchewan’s real GDP expanded by 3.8% in 2021. According to the Conference Board of Canada it in December 2021 forecast, the province's real GDP is forecasted to grow by 4.3% in 2022.

With the post pandemic recovery in full swing in most jurisdictions, on March 2 the Bank of Canada raised its benchmark rate to 0.5 percent. Inflation is now being viewed as widely entrenched. This rate hike is up from the floor of 0.25 percent it held for much of the COVID-19 pandemic. This the central bank’s first rate hike since October 2018.