Earnings of employees and the self-employed

Almost half of self-employed also earned wages or salaries

• In 2005, Canadian employees who only earned wages or salaries earned, on average, $36,703 annually. Two out of 5 (40%) of these employees earned less than $20,000, while just under 1 in 20 (4%) had incomes over $100,000.

• On average, Canadians who only had income from self-employment in 2005 earned $22,866. Almost half (46%) of the self-employed, however, also had earnings or wages from either another employer or from paying themselves an additional salary or wage.

• The average self-employment income in 2005 for Canadians who reported any such income, regardless of whether they were completely self-employed or they also had a wage, was $16,767.

• In 2005, 79% of the self-employed had incomes less than $20,000. However, 3% of the self-employed had incomes over $100,000.

• Self-employment income for men was higher than that for women. In 2005, men with self-employment income earned an average of $20,080 from self-employment earnings, compared with $12,000 for women with self-employment income.

• The two main sources of income for the self-employed were business (46%) or professional (44%) income. Other sources of income included commissions (7%), farming (3%) and fishing (1%).

Chart J.9
Average net earnings of employees and the self-employed, 2000 and 2005

Source: Statistics Canada, Small Area and Administrative Data Division, special request.