Southwest Saskatchewan's labour force took a significant hit during the month of June.

According to statistics released last week by Stats Canada, the southwest region of the province slipped outside of Canada's top five lowest unemployment rates for the first time in 2017.

The region that including the City of Moose Jaw and the City of Swift Current saw the unemployment rate jumped by 1.2% (approximately 600 people) in a year-over-year comparison to 4.6%.

Included in the statistics released for the month of June are the population numbers for the area, along with the labour force and employment numbers.

The region saw a decrease in all three categories with the population declining by approximately 400 residents since this time last year, the labour force dropping about 1,500 and the employment in the area fell by about 2,200 as well.

Saskatchewan had the fifth lowest unemployment rate among the provinces at 6.4% an increase of .3% from June of 2016.

Canada's unemployment rate continued to drop reaching 6.5%, a decrease of 0.4% from last year.