The Daily. Monday, October 29, 2001

Employment, earnings and hours

Average weekly earnings for all employees rose $2.73 to $668.52 in August. On a year-over-year basis, average weekly earnings were up 1.8 percent, short of the 2.8% year-over-year growth in the consumer price index in August.

For most provinces, average weekly earnings were slightly higher than in August 2000. The provinces with the strongest earnings growth in the past year were Alberta (+2.8), Saskatchewan (+2.2%) and Newfoundland (+2.0%).

Average hourly earnings for hourly paid employees were $17.00 in August, up 10 cents from July and up 2.4% from August 2000. Average weekly hours for hourly paid employees were down 0.1 to 31.2 hours, and average overtime hours were virtually unchanged from July.

In August, the number of employees on payrolls rose a slight 8,700, or 0.1%. The largest employment gain was in transportation and warehousing, due mostly to the end of the public transit strike in Vancouver. The largest employment loss by industry was in durable goods manufacturing-most of the losses were in Ontario. Alberta had the largest employment gain, +4,600, with small employment gains in most industries.

Note: With the release of January 2001 data, the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours began publishing its estimates based on the North American Industry Classification (NAICS). The NAICS-based estimates are not comparable with the previously published estimates based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) of 1980. To aid this transition, a NAICS-based historical database from January 1991 to December 2000 has been produced. A concordance table showing NAICS and corresponding SIC codes is available on request. A description of the conversion process and its impact on the data is also available in the January 2001 issue of Employment, Earnings and Hours (72-002-XIB, $24/$240) or may be obtained from Jean Leduc (613-951-4090; fax: 613-951-2869; labour@statcan.gc.ca. For more information on the NAICS, see the Statistical methods page on Statistics Canada's Web site ().

Available on CANSIM: tables 2810023-2810040.

Detailed industry data and other labour market indicators will be available in the November standard tables in the monthly publication Employment, earnings and hours (72-002-XIB, $24/$240). Annual averages for 2000 are now available on CANSIM and by custom tabulations from the Labour Statistics Division.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Robert Frindt or Jean Leduc (1-866-873-8788; 613-951-4090; fax: 613-951-2869; labour@statcan.gc.ca), Labour Statistics Division.

Average weekly earnings for all employees

Number of employees