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Thursday, February 26, 2004

Payroll employment, earnings and hours

December 2003 (preliminary)

The average weekly earnings of payroll employees increased substantially in December to $699.19 (+$7.55).

The new level is 1.6% higher than it was 12 months before. The year-over-year growth is due largely to earnings increases in the manufacturing, retail trade, professional, scientific and technical services and public administration sectors.

The average hours for hourly-paid workers dropped in December, attributable mostly to decreased hours in goods-producing industries, especially construction and manufacturing.

The number of payroll employees rose sharply in December (+76,600 jobs), the largest increase since 2001. Gains in December were widespread across provinces, territories and industries. The health care and social assistance sector added 9,400 payroll jobs, continuing a long-established upward trend. Professional, scientific and technical services was up 8,800, rising for the fourth consecutive month. Manufacturing grew by 6,900 jobs, but has still lost 50,000 jobs since the middle of 2003. Retail trade rose for a third straight month, by 5,600 jobs in December.

Note: Some changes will be made to the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and hours (SEPH). With the release of data for the January 2004 reference month, (on March 30), current and historical estimates will be published on the basis of the 2002 version of North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS). This change affects only estimates for industry groupings within the Construction (NAICS 23) and Information and Culture (NAICS 51) industries. In addition to the switch to NAICS 2002, there will be a slight change to the definitions for groupings "durable and non-durable goods" of manufacturing. As per the normal SEPH annual revision cycle, historical corrections to other series will also be made available with the March 30th release. At that time a concordance table between the NAICS 97 and 2002 version will be made available. To enquire about the concordance table contact Client Services (1-866-873-8788; 613-951-4090; fax: 613-951-2869; labour@statcan.gc.ca), Labour Statistics Division.

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

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2612.

Detailed industry data, data by size of enterprise based on employment, and other labour market indicators will be available soon in the monthly publication Employment, Earnings and Hours (72-002-XIB, $26/$257).

Data on payroll employment, earnings and hours for January 2004 will be released March 30.

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 Gilles Groleau (613-951-4091), Labour Statistics Division.

Average weekly earnings for all employees
Industry group (North American Industry Classification System) December 2002 November 2003r December 2003p November to December 2003 December 2002 to December 2003
  seasonally adjusted
  $ % change
Industrial aggregate 687.98 691.64 699.19 1.1 1.6
Forestry, logging and support 851.12 866.99 879.91 1.5 3.4
Mining and oil and gas 1,174.35 1,197.54 1,209.07 1.0 3.0
Utilities 1,073.17 1,060.43 1,053.93 -0.6 -1.8
Construction 820.70 824.04 827.83 0.5 0.9
Manufacturing 840.25 844.86 856.96 1.4 2.0
Wholesale Trade 787.15 792.61 803.68 1.4 2.1
Retail trade 436.89 440.35 450.97 2.4 3.2
Transportation and warehousing 771.81 753.20 759.50 0.8 -1.6
Information and cultural industries 823.18 799.41 803.19 0.5 -2.4
Finance and insurance 878.12 881.42 883.82 0.3 0.6
Real estate and rental and leasing 605.34 605.39 618.91 2.2 2.2
Professional, scientific and technical services 906.61 910.70 938.96 3.1 3.6
Management of companies and enterprises 849.54 865.94 904.07 4.4 6.4
Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services 539.62 540.64 554.44 2.6 2.7
Educational Services 746.93 755.89 749.54 -0.8 0.3
Health care and social assistance 610.53 618.39 620.96 0.4 1.7
Arts, entertainment and recreation 437.94 420.61 433.56 3.1 -1.0
Accommodation and food services 283.93 280.24 282.63 0.9 -0.5
Other services (excluding public administration) 525.99 527.83 541.51 2.6 3.0
Public administration 842.06 870.12 880.35 1.2 4.5
Provinces and territories          
Newfoundland and Labrador 629.14 629.96 635.89 0.9 1.1
Prince Edward Island 546.54 552.74 554.39 0.3 1.4
Nova Scotia 595.17 597.00 602.95 1.0 1.3
New Brunswick 617.46 631.49 642.19 1.7 4.0
Quebec 651.99 655.98 667.57 1.8 2.4
Ontario 733.25 734.02 741.40 1.0 1.1
Manitoba 612.58 618.61 627.11 1.4 2.4
Saskatchewan 615.35 630.97 635.71 0.8 3.3
Alberta 703.56 715.55 724.94 1.3 3.0
British Columbia 683.60 684.04 684.96 0.1 0.2
Yukon 766.53 754.80 722.06 -4.3 -5.8
Northwest Territories1 903.19 890.51 907.02 1.9 0.4
Nunavut1 797.02 778.27 810.30 4.1 1.7
rRevised estimates.
pPreliminary estimates.
1Data not seasonally adjusted.

Number of Employees
Industry group (North American Industry Classification System) October 2003 November 2003r December 2003p October to November 2003 November to December 2003
  seasonally adjusted
  '000 % change
Industrial aggregate 13,347.4 13,373.5 13,450.1 0.2 0.6
Forestry, logging and support 53.2 52.2 53.6 -1.9 2.7
Mining and oil and gas 153.7 154.2 156.0 0.3 1.2
Utilities 114.4 113.8 113.3 -0.5 -0.4
Construction 653.0 657.4 659.0 0.7 0.2
Manufacturing 2,023.8 2,019.9 2,026.8 -0.2 0.3
Wholesale Trade 757.0 752.4 753.4 -0.6 0.1
Retail trade 1,598.9 1,606.6 1,612.2 0.5 0.3
Transportation and warehousing 600.7 601.8 599.1 0.2 -0.4
Information and cultural industries 352.8 352.5 355.3 -0.1 0.8
Finance and insurance 572.3 574.6 576.9 0.4 0.4
Real estate and rental and leasing 231.2 232.2 233.0 0.4 0.3
Professional, scientific and technical services 656.1 659.0 667.8 0.4 1.3
Management of companies and enterprises 90.1 88.4 88.5 -1.9 0.1
Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services 614.9 614.1 619.3 -0.1 0.8
Educational Services 936.6 961.4 969.2 2.6 0.8
Health care and social assistance 1,372.9 1,370.5 1,379.9 -0.2 0.7
Arts, entertainment and recreation 241.1 240.0 239.3 -0.5 -0.3
Accommodation and food services 933.0 935.6 937.2 0.3 0.2
Other services (excluding public administration) 503.0 503.1 509.8 0.0 1.3
Public administration 769.7 771.5 771.7 0.2 0.0
Provinces and territories          
Newfoundland and Labrador 185.9 183.8 185.9 -1.1 1.1
Prince Edward Island 64.0 62.4 61.5 -2.5 -1.4
Nova Scotia 383.3 382.1 385.6 -0.3 0.9
New Brunswick 304.7 300.0 303.2 -1.5 1.1
Quebec 3,171.3 3,179.0 3,180.5 0.2 0.0
Ontario 5,173.5 5,209.2 5,225.1 0.7 0.3
Manitoba 525.9 521.2 523.1 -0.9 0.4
Saskatchewan 396.7 396.3 402.0 -0.1 1.4
Alberta 1,460.7 1,464.1 1,473.2 0.2 0.6
British Columbia 1,636.1 1,638.9 1,650.0 0.2 0.7
Yukon 15.7 15.3 15.3 -2.5 0.0
Northwest Territories1 22.4 22.1 22.4 -1.3 1.4
Nunavut1 11.5 11.4 11.6 -0.9 1.8
rRevised estimates.
pPreliminary estimates.
1Data not seasonally adjusted.



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Date Modified: 2004-02-26 Important Notices