Southwestern Saskatchewan's job market took a bit of a fall last month losing roughly 500 workers.

According to Statistics Canada the southwest region which encompasses Swift Current and Moose Jaw experienced their unemployment rise to 4.6 per cent, a 1.3 per cent jump from March 2017.

The decrease of about 2,800 jobs in a year's time has the southwest ranks sixth out of 66 regions in Canada, a drop of four spots in a year.

While the southwest employment shrunk, both Canada and Saskatchewan saw their employment rates improve significantly in a year-over-year comparison.

The nation's unemployment rate dropped 0.9 per cent and now sits at 5.8 per cent which matches Canada's lowest level of unemployment since Stats Canada started measuring the indicator in 1976. The province's unemployment dropped 0.7 per cent to now sit at 6.1 per cent

The southwest's population is estimated at 81,300 - a decrease of 400 residents from last year. Of the 81,300 people, 51,900 are in the labour force with 49,500 of them working and 2,400 are unemployed.