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Wednesday, February 26, 2003

Employment, earnings and hours

December 2002 (preliminary)

In December, average weekly earnings for all employees were estimated at $685.42, up 0.2% from November. Since December 2001, earnings rose 2.2%, while the Consumer Price Index increased 3.9%.

On a year-over-year basis, salaried employees recorded an increase in average weekly earnings of 2.9%, with gains strongest in education (+5.8%) and public administration (+3.9%). Weekly earnings for hourly paid employees rose 0.9%, mostly the result of a 0.6% increase in average paid hours.

Total payroll employment increased substantially in December, up 34,000 jobs from November. The increase was widespread across industry sectors, with the strongest gains in manufacturing (+9,700), and professional and scientific services (+8,900). This month's job gain brings the total increase since December 2001 to 512,000 jobs. Retail trade (+80,800), manufacturing (+68,700) and health (+54,100) showed the largest net increases in payroll employment over the 12-month period.

By province, monthly job growth for December was strongest in Ontario (+19,100), Quebec (+10,000) and Alberta (+8,400). Compared with December 2001, all provinces have shown employment gains of at least 2%, with Alberta (+5.4%) and Nova Scotia (+5.1%) showing the largest increases.

Available on CANSIM: tables 281-0023 to 281-0046.

Information on methods and data quality available in the Integrated Meta Data Base: survey number 2612.

Detailed industry data, data by size of enterprise based on employment by sector, and other labour market indicators will be available in March standard tables in the monthly publication Employment, earnings and hours (72-002-XIB, $24/$240). Annual averages for 2001 are now available through CANSIM and by custom tabulations from Labour Statistics Division.

For general information or to order data, contact Client Services (1-866-873-8788; 613-951-4090; fax: 613-951-2869; labour@statcan.gc.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Jamie Brunet (613-951-6684) or Robert Frindt (613-951-4069), Labour Statistics Division.

Average weekly earnings for all employees
Industry group (North American Industry Classification System) December 2001 November 2002r December 2002p November 2002 to December 2002 December 2001 to December 2002
  Seasonally adjusted
'000 % change
Industrial aggregate 670.83 684.01 685.42 0.2 2.2
Forestry, logging and support 843.60 851.51 852.30 0.1 1.0
Mining and oil and gas 1,158.56 1,173.32 1,170.56 -0.2 1.0
Utilities 1,009.19 1,033.37 1,037.64 0.4 2.8
Construction 803.11 807.26 812.40 0.6 1.2
Manufacturing 813.75 839.35 840.73 0.2 3.3
Wholesale trade 778.43 782.78 789.56 0.9 1.4
Retail trade 433.43 437.53 436.63 -0.2 0.7
Transportation and warehousing 751.18 771.17 772.03 0.1 2.8
Information and cultural industries 813.02 821.38 822.85 0.2 1.2
Finance and insurance 839.19 854.05 865.04 1.3 3.1
Real estate and rental and leasing 624.11 604.37 601.82 -0.4 -3.6
Professional, scientific and technical services 888.32 906.00 908.92 0.3 2.3
Management of companies and enterprises 840.69 849.06 849.69 0.1 1.1
Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services 535.12 539.28 539.72 0.1 0.9
Educational services 705.62 748.66 747.21 -0.2 5.9
Health care and social assistance 593.96 610.28 610.78 0.1 2.8
Arts, entertainment and recreation 494.60 482.22 480.86 -0.3 -2.8
Accommodation and food services 293.23 284.76 286.02 0.4 -2.5
Other services (excluding public administration) 531.53 523.71 527.67 0.8 -0.7
Public administration 761.37 785.76 788.07 0.3 3.5
Provinces and territories          
Newfoundland and Labrador 613.42 625.54 630.88 0.9 2.8
Prince Edward Island 526.51 537.49 537.68 0.0 2.1
Nova Scotia 576.50 588.44 592.96 0.8 2.9
New Brunswick 597.92 613.81 617.09 0.5 3.2
Quebec 630.93 646.12 647.21 0.2 2.6
Ontario 716.09 730.24 731.11 0.1 2.1
Manitoba 599.01 605.81 611.27 0.9 2.0
Saskatchewan 603.29 614.20 615.93 0.3 2.1
Alberta 692.28 701.55 704.84 0.5 1.8
British Columbia 667.22 677.71 678.86 0.2 1.7
Yukon 756.04 757.86 762.47 0.6 0.9
Northwest Territories1 870.23 884.47 907.50 2.6 4.3
Nunavut1 784.75 804.34 802.21 -0.3 2.2
pPreliminary estimates.
rRevised estimates.
1Data not seasonally adjusted.

Number of Employees
Industry group (North American Industry Classification System) October 2002 November 2002r December 2002p October 2002 to November 2002 November 2002 to December 2002
  Seasonally adjusted
'000 % change
Industrial aggregate 13,233.5 13,283.9 13,317.9 0.4 0.3
Forestry, logging and support 59.7 58.9 58.1 -1.3 -1.4
Mining and oil and gas 142.6 143.9 144.3 0.9 0.3
Utilities 113.6 113.9 114.3 0.3 0.4
Construction 631.8 639.4 641.1 1.2 0.3
Manufacturing 2,059.1 2,070.7 2,080.4 0.6 0.5
Wholesale trade 748.5 752.1 752.9 0.5 0.1
Retail trade 1,575.8 1,581.1 1,581.9 0.3 0.1
Transportation and warehousing 614.4 614.9 615.6 0.1 0.1
Information and cultural industries 351.7 352.7 353.5 0.3 0.2
Finance and insurance 577.9 575.6 577.4 -0.4 0.3
Real estate and rental and leasing 229.6 228.4 230.0 -0.5 0.7
Professional, scientific and technical services 660.7 669.1 678.0 1.3 1.3
Management of companies and enterprises 91.3 91.2 91.1 -0.1 -0.1
Admininistrative and support, waste management and remediation services 580.1 582.6 585.3 0.4 0.5
Educational services 956.9 956.7 959.8 0.0 0.3
Health care and social assistance 1,331.2 1,335.3 1,338.5 0.3 0.2
Arts, entertainment and recreation 234.7 237.2 237.4 1.1 0.1
Accommodation and food services 960.5 963.4 964.2 0.3 0.1
Other services (excluding public administration) 494.1 495.7 496.6 0.3 0.2
Public administration 734.6 738.8 739.8 0.6 0.1
Provinces and territories          
Newfoundland and Labrador 188.3 189.3 189.1 0.5 -0.1
Prince Edward Island 59.6 60.3 60.7 1.2 0.7
Nova Scotia 375.2 377.8 377.2 0.7 -0.2
New Brunswick 302.0 303.6 303.7 0.5 0.0
Quebec 3,139.0 3,141.7 3,151.7 0.1 0.3
Ontario 5,155.8 5,177.6 5,196.7 0.4 0.4
Manitoba 522.2 526.6 523.4 0.8 -0.6
Saskatchewan 381.4 383.8 383.2 0.6 -0.2
Alberta 1,439.6 1,446.9 1,455.3 0.5 0.6
British Columbia 1,622.2 1,629.2 1,631.9 0.4 0.2
Yukon 15.4 15.6 15.5 1.3 -0.6
Northwest Territories1 21.2 21.2 20.9 0.0 -1.4
Nunavut1 11.2 11.3 10.9 0.9 -3.5
pPreliminary estimates.
rRevised estimates.
1Data not seasonally adjusted.



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