Average weekly earnings of Canadian nonfarm payroll employees rose to C$888.89 in January, up 0.6% from December; on yearly basis, earnings rose 2%

Cindy Allen

OTTAWA , March 30, 2012 (press release) – In January, average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $888.89, up 0.6% from the previous month. On a year-over-year basis, earnings rose 2.0%.

The 2.0% increase in earnings during the 12 months to January reflects a number of factors, such as wage growth and changes in the composition of employment by industry, occupation and level of job experience.

Average hours worked per week can also contribute to changes in earnings. In January, the year-over-year growth in weekly earnings was dampened by a decline in hours worked. January was the the third consecutive month of year-over-year declines in hours worked. Non-farm payroll employees worked 32.9 hours per week on average in January, down from 33.0 hours a year earlier. Compared with December 2011, average weekly hours were up 0.1 hours from 32.8 hours.

Average weekly earnings by sector

Year-over-year growth in average weekly earnings outpaced the national average of 2.0% in five of Canada's largest industrial sectors: retail trade; construction; wholesale trade; public administration; and manufacturing.

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.