Canadian Employment and Earnings Details

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Canadian Employment and Earnings Details

In August, the Canadian average weekly earnings of payroll employees increased $1.13 from July to $772.59. The year-to-date growth, calculated as the average of the first eight months of 2007 compared with the average of the same eight months in 2006, was 3.1 percent.

In Canada’s largest industrial sectors, earnings grew for the first eight months of 2007 in manufacturing (+3.6%), health and social assistance (+3.4%), educational services (+0.9%), and retail trade (+0.2%).

Nationally, the number of occupied payroll jobs climbed 16,100 to 14,336,400 in August. Growth among the provinces varied, with Newfoundland, Labrador and Alberta recording the strongest gains.

The industrial sectors showing the strongest employment growth in August were mining, oil and gas extraction, real estate and rental and leasing (+1.5%).

Since December 2006, the biggest gain in payroll jobs has been in construction (+5.2%). Overall, payroll employment has grown 118,700 payroll jobs since the beginning of the year (+0.8%).

The average Canadian hourly earnings for hourly-paid employees was virtually unchanged in August at $19.01. The average Canadian weekly hours for hourly-paid employees was unchanged at 31.2 hours.