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Payroll employment, earnings and hours
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The average weekly earnings of employees decreased 0.1% from November to $801.92 in December.
During 2008, average weekly earnings rose 2.7%.
Among Canada's largest industrial sectors, between December 2007 and December 2008, earnings increased by 7.3% in health and social assistance, 4.2% in educational services, 3.7% in retail trade, 1.6% in manufacturing, and 0.9% in accommodation and food services.
The strongest year-over-year earnings growth among the provinces was reported in Saskatchewan (+4.4%), Prince Edward Island (+4.2%), and Alberta (+4.0%).
In December, the number of employees edged down 0.02% from the previous month.
Since December 2007, the number of employees has increased by 110,500 (+0.8%).
Note: With the release of the January 2009 data on March 31, 2009, data from the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours will be produced using a new estimation method. Many series will be affected by this change, most notably average weekly earnings, average hourly earnings, and average weekly hours.
While estimates of total number of employees will not be affected, some shifts in the breakdown by category of worker (hourly, salaried, and other employees) may occur in some series.
Attempts will be made to revise previously released estimates back to 2001 to ensure continuity in data series. Data quality indicators will be incorporated into many of the time series.
When the quality of a specific monthly estimate is too unreliable for publication, an "F" will replace the actual estimate. In cases where the sample size is too small to produce reliable estimates the series will no longer be available.
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, free).
Data on payroll employment, earnings and hours for January will be released on March 31.
For general information, or to order data, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-866-873-8788; 613-951-4090; labour@statcan.gc.ca). To enquire about revisions, concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Peter Lorenz (613-951-4167), Labour Statistics Division.
Table 1
| Industry Group (North American Industry Classification System) | December 2007 | November 2008r | December 2008p | November to December 2008 | December 2007 to December 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | |||||
| $ | % change | ||||
| Industrial aggregate | 780.76 | 802.34 | 801.92 | -0.1 | 2.7 |
| Forestry, logging and support | 984.90 | 962.13 | 928.07 | -3.5 | -5.8 |
| Mining and quarrying, and oil and gas extraction | 1,441.87 | 1,544.77 | 1,563.77 | 1.2 | 8.5 |
| Utilities | 1,161.84 | 1,205.12 | 1,189.02 | -1.3 | 2.3 |
| Construction | 952.72 | 1,013.43 | 993.87 | -1.9 | 4.3 |
| Manufacturing | 949.69 | 970.00 | 965.27 | -0.5 | 1.6 |
| Wholesale trade | 920.28 | 932.59 | 943.46 | 1.2 | 2.5 |
| Retail trade | 489.25 | 507.16 | 507.13 | 0.0 | 3.7 |
| Transportation and warehousing | 808.52 | 819.56 | 819.75 | 0.0 | 1.4 |
| Information and cultural industries | 983.44 | 992.63 | 979.09 | -1.4 | -0.4 |
| Finance and insurance | 1,019.77 | 1,007.46 | 1,000.07 | -0.7 | -1.9 |
| Real estate and rental and leasing | 712.04 | 668.85 | 723.88 | 8.2 | 1.7 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 1,018.34 | 1,032.84 | 1,064.81 | 3.1 | 4.6 |
| Management of companies and enterprises | 1,013.30 | 945.14 | 947.48 | 0.2 | -6.5 |
| Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services | 639.73 | 647.30 | 660.11 | 2.0 | 3.2 |
| Educational services | 846.24 | 893.67 | 881.67 | -1.3 | 4.2 |
| Health care and social assistance | 708.54 | 755.92 | 760.32 | 0.6 | 7.3 |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 470.66 | 498.16 | 515.03 | 3.4 | 9.4 |
| Accommodation and food services | 331.91 | 333.43 | 334.95 | 0.5 | 0.9 |
| Other services (excluding public administration) | 608.63 | 608.23 | 613.03 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Public administration | 985.28 | 981.00 | 991.39 | 1.1 | 0.6 |
| Provinces and territories | |||||
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 728.01 | 751.52 | 752.98 | 0.2 | 3.4 |
| Prince Edward Island | 633.94 | 649.62 | 660.85 | 1.7 | 4.2 |
| Nova Scotia | 679.04 | 688.86 | 697.05 | 1.2 | 2.7 |
| New Brunswick | 724.05 | 736.57 | 750.22 | 1.9 | 3.6 |
| Quebec | 735.10 | 745.03 | 757.41 | 1.7 | 3.0 |
| Ontario | 811.01 | 834.58 | 832.88 | -0.2 | 2.7 |
| Manitoba | 715.16 | 724.41 | 735.22 | 1.5 | 2.8 |
| Saskatchewan | 740.78 | 770.78 | 773.63 | 0.4 | 4.4 |
| Alberta | 854.65 | 899.28 | 888.97 | -1.1 | 4.0 |
| British Columbia | 768.28 | 776.44 | 773.25 | -0.4 | 0.6 |
| Yukon | 900.01 | 904.03 | 901.45 | -0.3 | 0.2 |
| Northwest Territories¹ | 1,022.26 | 1,092.09 | 1,077.87 | -1.3 | 5.4 |
| Nunavut¹ | 946.89 | 963.31 | 959.73 | -0.4 | 1.4 |
Table 2
| Industry Group (North American Industry Classification System) | December 2007 | November 2008r | December 2008p | November to December 2008 | December 2007 to December 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | |||||
| thousands | % change | ||||
| Industrial aggregate | 14,427.5 | 14,540.5 | 14,538.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 |
| Forestry, logging and support | 54.9 | 47.9 | 48.3 | 0.8 | -12.0 |
| Mining and quarrying, and oil and gas extraction | 195.7 | 205.5 | 204.8 | -0.3 | 4.6 |
| Utilities | 123.7 | 127.8 | 128.9 | 0.9 | 4.2 |
| Construction | 808.1 | 831.2 | 818.8 | -1.5 | 1.3 |
| Manufacturing | 1,748.9 | 1,667.5 | 1,662.0 | -0.3 | -5.0 |
| Wholesale trade | 761.7 | 759.6 | 757.0 | -0.3 | -0.6 |
| Retail trade | 1,819.6 | 1,850.3 | 1,846.1 | -0.2 | 1.5 |
| Transportation and warehousing | 656.0 | 659.2 | 665.1 | 0.9 | 1.4 |
| Information and cultural industries | 354.1 | 362.4 | 366.0 | 1.0 | 3.4 |
| Finance and insurance | 631.9 | 647.2 | 647.2 | 0.0 | 2.4 |
| Real estate and rental and leasing | 253.4 | 250.8 | 248.2 | -1.0 | -2.1 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 730.7 | 742.6 | 744.6 | 0.3 | 1.9 |
| Management of companies and enterprises | 100.4 | 102.6 | 102.7 | 0.1 | 2.3 |
| Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services | 723.1 | 710.4 | 707.7 | -0.4 | -2.1 |
| Educational services | 1,085.6 | 1,106.3 | 1,103.0 | -0.3 | 1.6 |
| Health care and social assistance | 1,487.4 | 1,530.8 | 1,543.9 | 0.9 | 3.8 |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 241.6 | 240.6 | 239.2 | -0.6 | -1.0 |
| Accommodation and food services | 1,064.9 | 1,088.1 | 1,094.2 | 0.6 | 2.8 |
| Other services (excluding public administration) | 530.9 | 536.3 | 538.8 | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| Public administration | 835.4 | 860.1 | 862.6 | 0.3 | 3.3 |
| Provinces and territories | |||||
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 183.8 | 189.1 | 188.6 | -0.3 | 2.6 |
| Prince Edward Island | 59.4 | 59.5 | 59.8 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| Nova Scotia | 390.7 | 393.6 | 392.9 | -0.2 | 0.6 |
| New Brunswick | 302.1 | 305.6 | 305.3 | -0.1 | 1.1 |
| Quebec | 3,281.3 | 3,314.8 | 3,316.4 | 0.0 | 1.1 |
| Ontario | 5,521.7 | 5,519.9 | 5,522.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Manitoba | 537.0 | 544.9 | 546.3 | 0.3 | 1.7 |
| Saskatchewan | 430.8 | 440.7 | 442.1 | 0.3 | 2.6 |
| Alberta | 1,741.5 | 1,787.4 | 1,783.7 | -0.2 | 2.4 |
| British Columbia | 1,919.1 | 1,933.7 | 1,934.9 | 0.1 | 0.8 |
| Yukon | 18.0 | 18.2 | 18.4 | 1.1 | 2.2 |
| Northwest Territories¹ | 23.4 | 25.4 | 25.3 | -0.4 | 8.1 |
| Nunavut¹ | 10.5 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 0.0 | -2.9 |
