The Daily. Thursday, July 26, 2001

Employment, earnings and hours

Average weekly earnings for all employees rose $2.37 in May to $662.05. Compared with May 2000, average weekly earnings were up 1.4%.

Average hourly earnings for hourly paid employees were $16.71 in May, up 5 cents from April. Average weekly hours for hourly paid employees were down slightly (-0.1) to 31.5 hours.

Average weekly earnings for hourly paid employees declined slightly, as the gain in hourly earnings was offset by a decline in paid hours. Average weekly earnings for salaried employees rose slightly in May (+0.3%) and were up 1.6% since May 2000. Average weekly earnings for commissioned salespersons and other employees were up slightly in May after three consecutive months of declines. Gains by commissioned and other employees were mostly in service-producing industries.

The number of employees on payrolls rose 23,500 in May. However, this increase includes the return of 14,000 employees on strike in Ontario education. Excluding education, employment in the province of Ontario declined slightly. Alberta had the only substantial employment gain (+9,000).

Note: With the January 2001 data, the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours began publishing its estimates based on the North American Industry Classification (NAICS). The NAICS-based estimates are not comparable to the previously published estimates based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) of 1980. To facilitate this transition, a NAICS-based historical database from January 1991 to December 2000 has been produced. Please note that the levels of employment and average earnings of the NAICS-based series have been adjusted to reflect the levels derived from the administrative sample and were also affected by slight modifications to the industrial coverage and improvements to the methodology of the survey. In addition, seasonal factors have been revised to improve the historical consistency of the seasonally adjusted estimates.

A concordance table between NAICS and SIC codes is available on request. A description of the conversion process and its impact on the data is also available in the January 2001 issue of Employment, earnings and hours (72-002-XIB) or may be obtained from Jean Leduc (613-951-4090; fax: 613-951-2869; labour@statcan.gc.ca). For more information on the NAICS consult the Statistical methods page on Statistics Canada's Web site ().

Available on CANSIM: tables 2810023-2810040 and matrices 17000-17221, 17224-17235, 17238 and 17252-17264 and 17266-17283.

Detailed industry data and other labour market indicators will be available in August in standard tables in the monthly publication Employment, earnings and hours (72-002-XIB, $24/$240). Annual averages for 2000 are now available on CANSIM and by custom tabulations from the Labour Statistics Division.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Robert Frindt or Jean Leduc (1-866-873-8788; 613-951-4090; fax: 613-951-2869; labour@statcan.gc.ca), Labour Statistics Division.

Average weekly earnings for all employees

Number of employees