Saskatchewan was unable to avoid the impact of COVID-19 when it comes to the provincial unemployment rate.

A reported 20,900 less people were working in the province according to Statistics Canada when compared to February. The numbers were down 19,300 when compared to March of 2019.

This means the provincial unemployment rate is at 7.3%, which is still .5% better than the federal rate.

This is the worst employment plunge on record for Saskatchewan, which is dated back to 1976.

This comes the same day as federal numbers came out from Stats Canada, where over 1 million jobs were lost.

A number of experts estimate April will show a steeper decline in job numbers, largely due to COVID-19.