Payroll employment, earnings and hours
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Between January 2010 and January 2011, average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees rose 4.2% to $870.33. This was the sixth consecutive month with year-over-year growth at around 4.0%.
In comparison, average weekly earnings between January 2009 and January 2010 increased by 2.2%.
A 1.3% increase in the average workweek contributed to the 4.2% advance in weekly earnings between January 2010 and January 2011. In comparison, average hours declined by 0.4% between January 2009 and January 2010. The remainder of the year-over-year earnings increase in January 2011 reflects a number of other factors, including wage growth, changes in the composition of employment by industry, by occupation and by level of job experience.
Note to readers
Every March 31, as part of the regularly scheduled year-end review of the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH), seasonally adjusted data are revised using the latest seasonal factors. On March 31, a new seasonal adjustment model (X-12-ARIMA) has been introduced.
In addition, as part of the annual review, there were revisions to a small number of industries for the 2001 to 2010 period.
As a result, all seasonally adjusted estimates have been revised historically back to 2001 and are available on CANSIM (tables 281-0023 to 281-0046). To facilitate access to the revised data, these CANSIM tables will be free from March 31 to April 6, 2011.
The SEPH is a business census of non-farm payroll employees. Statistics Canada also produces employment estimates from its monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS). As a result of conceptual and methodological differences, estimates of changes from SEPH and LFS do differ from time to time. However, the trends in the data are quite similar.
Unless otherwise stated, this release presents seasonally adjusted data, which facilitates comparisons by removing the effects of seasonal variations.
All earnings data include overtime pay and exclude businesses which could not be classified to a North American Industrial Classification System code.
Average weekly earnings are derived by dividing total weekly earnings by the number of employees.
Changes in average earnings can be influenced by a number of factors. Changes in the level of earnings, the number of payroll employees, and the number of hours worked can have an impact. Other factors could include compositional changes over time, such as changes in the proportions of full-time and part-time work; proportions of casual, senior and junior employees; the occupational distribution within and across industries; and in the distribution of employment between industries. Such effects may apply differently within different provinces and territories, and over time.
Average weekly earnings increased in every province between January 2010 and January 2011. Growth was above the national average in Prince Edward Island, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador and British Columbia. Nova Scotia had the slowest growth.
Average weekly earnings by industry
Between January 2010 and January 2011, growth in average weekly earnings was above the national average of 4.2% in 6 of the 10 industries with over 700,000 employees, led by administrative and support services. The slowest growth in earnings occurred in retail and wholesale trade.
Average weekly earnings in administrative and support services increased by 8.5% to $721.27 in the 12 months to January. Year-over-year growth was high across the sector.
Earnings were up by 4.7% to $804.40 in health care and social assistance in the 12 months to January. Although average weekly earnings have been increasing in a number of industries in this sector, gains were particularly high in general medical and surgical hospitals.
Manufacturing earnings increased by 4.6% to $989.18 in the 12 months to January. Growth was notable in beverage and tobacco products; machinery; primary metals; petroleum and coal products; fabricated metal products; chemical; and furniture and related products.
Earnings in professional, scientific and technical services continued on a long-term upward trend, rising 4.4% to $1,211.09 from January 2010 to January 2011. Growth was particularly high in advertising and public relations; specialized design; management, scientific and technical consulting; as well as in architectural, engineering and related services.
Growth in average weekly earnings was also strong in some smaller industries. From January 2010 to January 2011, the fastest growth among all sectors was in arts, entertainment and recreation, where earnings increased by 9.3% to $591.58. Growth has been robust since September 2010 for spectator sports; gambling; independent artists, writers and performers; as well as promoters (presenters) of performing arts, sports and similar events.
Average weekly earnings in transportation and warehousing have been on a steady upward trend since January 2010. From January 2010 to January 2011, average weekly earnings in this sector grew by 8.4% to $912.97. The growth was most notable in postal service; couriers; urban transit systems; and rail transportation.
Non-farm payroll employment by industry
On a month-over-month basis, non-farm payroll employment edged down by 5,700 from December to January, following four months of job gains averaging 24,100. Between January 2010 and January 2011, the number of payroll employees increased by 270,400 (+1.9%).
The drop in payroll employment in January was driven by declines in the services sector, most notably in public administration; real estate and rental and leasing; and transportation and warehousing.
In public administration, payroll jobs declined by 4,300 (-0.4%) in January, with losses in both provincial and municipal public administration. Payroll jobs in public administration were mostly unchanged over the year.
There were smaller declines in real estate and rental and leasing (-1,900) and transportation and warehousing (-1,400). While job growth in transportation and warehousing has been relatively flat since September 2009, jobs have been increasing in real estate and rental and leasing since June 2010.
The goods-producing sector posted gains in January. The largest increase was in construction (+8,200), bringing total gains in this industry over the 12-month period to 32,300 (+4.0%). With January's increase, the construction sector has regained all the jobs lost during the labour market downturn.
In manufacturing, payroll employment increased by 4,700 (+0.3%) from December to January. Compared with 12 months earlier, payroll jobs in this industry were up by 21,700 (+1.5%). Most of the gains were in machinery; fabricated metal products; food; primary metal; and electrical equipment, appliance and component manufacturing.
Payroll employment in mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction was mostly unchanged in January. However, this sector led the way in year-over-year growth at 26,700 (+15.2%).
Hours worked and average hours worked by hourly and salaried employees
Total hours worked by hourly and salaried employees were unchanged in January compared with December. In the 12 months to January, total hours increased by 2.9%.
Average weekly hours worked by hourly and salaried employees amounted to 33.2 hours in January, up 0.2% from the previous month and up 1.3% or approximately half an hour more compared with January 2010.
Available on CANSIM: tables 281-0023 to 281-0039 and 281-0041 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-X, free).
Data on payroll employment, earnings and hours for February will be released on April 28.
For more 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 Jeannine Usalcas (613-951-4720), Labour Statistics Division.
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