Table 4
Major wage settlements, inflation and labour disputes

Warning View the most recent version.

Archived Content

Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.

Table 4 Major wage settlements, inflation and labour disputes
Table summary
This table displays the results of major wage settlements, inflation and labour disputes. This information is grouped by average annual increase in base wage rates (public sector employees, private sector employees, total employees), annual change in consumer price index, and labour disputes and time lost (workers involved, Person-days not worked, roportion of estimated working time) (appearing as column headers), calculated using percentage and number as a unit of measure.
  Average annual increase in base wage rates1 Annual change in consumer price index1 Labour disputes and time lost3
Public sector employees2 Private sector employees2 Total employees Strikes and lockouts4 Workers involved Person-days not worked Proportion of estimated working time
% number '000 %
1980 10.9 11.7 11.1 10.1 1,028 452 9,130 0.37
1981 13.1 12.7 13.0 12.4 1,049 342 8,850 0.35
1982 10.4 9.5 10.2 10.9 679 464 5,702 0.23
1983 4.6 5.5 4.8 5.8 645 330 4,441 0.18
1984 3.9 3.2 3.6 4.3 716 187 3,883 0.15
1985 3.8 3.3 3.7 4.0 829 164 3,126 0.12
1986 3.6 3.0 3.4 4.1 748 486 7,151 0.27
1987 4.1 3.8 4.0 4.4 668 582 3,810 0.14
1988 4.0 5.0 4.4 4.0 548 207 4,901 0.17
1989 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.0 627 445 3,701 0.13
1990 5.6 5.7 5.6 4.8 579 271 5,079 0.17
1991 3.4 4.4 3.6 5.6 463 254 2,516 0.09
1992 2.0 2.6 2.1 1.5 404 152 2,110 0.07
1993 0.6 0.8 0.7 1.8 381 102 1,517 0.05
1994 0.0 1.2 0.3 0.2 374 81 1,607 0.06
1995 0.6 1.4 0.9 2.2 328 149 1,583 0.05
1996 0.5 1.7 0.9 1.6 330 276 3,269 0.11
1997 1.1 1.8 1.4 1.6 284 258 3,608 0.12
1998 1.6 1.8 1.7 0.9 381 244 2,440 0.08
1999 1.9 2.7 2.2 1.8 412 159 2,434 0.08
2000 2.5 2.4 2.5 2.7 378 143 1,644 0.05
2001 3.4 3.0 3.3 2.5 381 221 2,203 0.07
2002 2.9 2.6 2.8 2.2 294 166 2,986 0.09
2003 2.9 1.2 2.5 2.8 266 79 1,730 0.05
2004 1.4 2.3 1.8 1.8 297 259 3,185 0.09
2005 2.3 2.5 2.3 2.2 260 199 4,148 0.11
2006 2.6 2.3 2.5 2.0 151 42 793 0.02
2007 3.4 3.3 3.3 2.2 206 66 1,771 0.05
2008 3.5 2.5 3.2 2.3 188 41 876 0.02
2009 2.5 1.8 2.4 0.3 158 67 2,169 0.06
2010 1.6 2.1 1.8 1.8 175 57 1,209 0.03
20115 1.2 2.2 1.3 1.0 .. .. .. ..
1. Involving 500 or more employees.
2. Public sector employees are those working for government departments or agencies; Crown corporations; or publicly funded schools, hospitals or other institutions. Private sector employees are all other wage and salary earners.
3. Involving 1 worker or more.
4. Ten person-days not worked.
5. 2011 data refer to January to March only.
.. not available for a specific reference period
Sources: Statistics Canada, Prices Division; Human Resources and Social Development Canada, Workplace Information Directorate.