Retail sales rose 5.8% during 2007, to $412 billion, Statistics Canada reported today.

StatsCan said retail sales in Saskatchewan surged 13%, twice the rate of growth in 2006 and the largest increase across the country.

Retailers in Alberta slipped from first to second place with a 9.3% sales increase, and sales in Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba were close behind.

Sales gains also surpassed the national average in Prince Edward Island and British Columbia, while lagging in Ontario and Quebec.

Nationally, sales at home furnishing stores, gas stations and dealers in electronics and appliances posted double-digit percentage growth last year.

Sales at car dealers, supermarkets and general merchandise stores grew by less than the overall average.

For the first time, the number of people working in sales equalled the number employed in manufacturing last year, StatsCan said.