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Payroll employment, earnings and hours
January 2009 (preliminary, seasonally adjusted estimates)
The average weekly earnings of employees increased 1.1% from December to $823.71 in January.
Since January 2008, average weekly earnings have risen 3.2%.
Among Canada's largest industrial sectors, between January 2008 and January 2009, average weekly earnings increased by 6.1% in retail trade, 4.4% in health and social assistance, 3.5% in educational services, and 2.2% in accommodation and food services. Over the same period, earnings declined by 0.8% in manufacturing and 0.4% in public administration.
The strongest year-over-year earnings growth among the provinces was reported in Alberta (+7.9%) and Saskatchewan (+6.3%).
Payroll employment decreased by 117,000 (-0.8%) in January from the previous month, the largest drop since March 1991. Since the peak reached in October 2008, the number of employees has decreased by 230,500.
In January, employment fell in every province, with Alberta (-1.4%) and British Columbia (-1.3%) experiencing the largest percentage declines. Ontario recorded the largest drop in the number of employees (-42,200).
Declines in the number of employees were observed in most industries, with the largest decrease occurring in manufacturing (-25,400). Payroll employment in manufacturing has fallen by 105,300 over the last six months. Construction (-15,100), and professional, scientific, and technical services (-14,000) also experienced significant losses in payroll employment. Industries that recorded payroll employment growth in January included public administration (+4,800) and retail trade (+4,700).
Note: With this release, data from the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours are being produced using a new estimation method. Many series are affected by this change, most notably average weekly earnings, average hourly earnings, and average weekly hours.
While estimates of the total number of employees are not affected by this change, some shifts in the breakdown by category of worker (hourly, salaried, and other employees) may occur in some series.
Previously released estimates back to 2001 have been revised to ensure continuity in data series. Data quality indicators are being 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.
In line with the normal annual revision cycle, historical corrections to other series are also now.
