Alberta continues to lead all province in average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees.
Statistics Canada reported on Thursday that weekly earnings of $1,142.75 in the province in June were down 0.2 per cent from the previous month but they remained 0.7 per cent higher than a year ago.
The federal agency also reported that the number of employees in Alberta was up 3,100 positions from May and has increased by 24,100 year over year.
Throughout Canada, average weekly earnings were $999.74, up 0.3 per cent month over month and by 2.8 per cent year over year.
“In general, changes in weekly earnings reflect a number of factors, including wage growth; changes in the composition of employment by industry, occupation and level of job experience; and average hours worked per week. Non-farm payroll employees worked an average of 32.8 hours per week in June, little changed from the previous month and from 12 months earlier,” said the federal agency.
It said average weekly earnings increased markedly in five of the 10 largest industrial sectors.
The mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector saw average weekly earnings rise to $2,045.83 – the highest of all the sectors. Month over month it was up 0.9 per cent and it rose by 2.9 per cent year over year.
“Compared with June 2017, the number of payroll employees rose by 337,400 (+2.1 per cent). Most sectors were up, led by health care and social assistance (+55,700 or +2.9 per cent) and professional, scientific and technical services (+40,500 or +4.5 per cent),” said StatsCan of the national labour situation.
“On a year-over-year basis, the number of payroll jobs also increased markedly in educational services (+38,900 or +3.0 per cent), manufacturing (+37,500 or +2.5 per cent) and public administration (+32,400 or +3.0 per cent). At the same time, there was a notable decline in information and cultural industries (-3,700 or -1.1 per cent). Employment in this sector has been relatively flat since January 2018.”
On a monthly basis, there were 32,100 more employees in Canada in June than in May.
Mario Toneguzzi is a veteran Calgary-based journalist who worked for 35 years for the Calgary Herald, including 12 years as a senior business writer.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
