Payroll employment, earnings and hours, July 2014
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Released: 2014-09-25
Average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $940 in July, little changed from $937 the previous month. Compared with 12 months earlier, weekly earnings increased 3.3%.
Chart 1
Year-over-year change in average weekly earnings and average weekly hours
The 3.3% increase in weekly earnings during the 12 months to July reflected a number of factors, including wage growth, changes in the composition of employment by industry, occupation and level of job experience, as well as average hours worked per week. Non-farm payroll employees worked an average of 33.0 hours in July, unchanged both from the previous month and from July 2013.
Average weekly earnings by sector
In the 12 months to July, average weekly earnings increased in 8 of the 10 largest industrial sectors, led by wholesale trade.
Chart 2
Year-over-year change in average weekly earnings in the 10 largest sectors, July 2013 to July 2014
Compared with 12 months earlier, average weekly earnings in wholesale trade increased 5.2% to $1,136. Growth was most notable among personal and household goods merchant wholesalers, as well as building material and supplies merchant wholesalers.
Average weekly earnings in construction grew by 4.0% to $1,234 in the 12 months to July, although earnings in the sector have been relatively stable since October. Earnings growth was widespread across the construction industries.
In health care and social assistance, average weekly earnings increased 3.3% to $851 in the 12 months to July, with gains spread across most industries. However, earnings in the sector have been relatively unchanged since the start of 2014.
Compared with 12 months earlier, average weekly earnings were little changed in educational services as well as administrative and support services.
Average weekly earnings by province
Year-over-year earnings of non-farm payroll employees increased in all provinces in July. The highest earnings growth was in Newfoundland and Labrador, while Ontario had the lowest.
Chart 3
Year-over-year growth in average weekly earnings by province, July 2013 to July 2014
Compared with 12 months earlier, average weekly earnings in Newfoundland and Labrador rose 5.2% to $993, with gains spread across most sectors.
Average weekly earnings in Quebec increased 5.0% to $873 in the 12 months to July, with most of the growth occurring since March. Over the 12-month period, gains were spread across all sectors in the province, led by finance and insurance; transportation and warehousing; wholesale trade; and construction.
Compared with a year earlier, earnings in Alberta were up 4.8% to $1,154, led by growth in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction.
Average weekly earnings in New Brunswick increased 4.8% to $847 on a year-over-year basis. Gains were spread across most sectors, led by wholesale trade and educational services.
Non-farm payroll employment by sector
Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 42,300 in July, following an increase of 18,000 in June. Growth in July was spread across most sectors, with the largest increases in public administration; retail trade; health care and social assistance; as well as mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction. At the same time, payroll employment declined in administrative and support services as well as manufacturing.
On a year-over-year basis, the number of non-farm payroll employees increased 196,200 or 1.3%, with the bulk of the gains occurring since April.
Over the 12-month period, employment growth was highest in real estate and rental and leasing (+4.4%); mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (+4.2%); as well as construction (+3.0%). At the same time, payroll employment declined in utilities (-2.1%) and information and cultural industries (-1.0%).
Note to readers
The Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) is produced by a combination of a census of payroll deductions, provided by the Canada Revenue Agency, and the Business Payrolls Survey, which collects data from a sample of 15,000 establishments. The key objective of SEPH is to provide a monthly portrait of the level of earnings, and the number of jobs and hours worked by detailed industry at the national, provincial and territorial level.
Estimates of average weekly earnings and hours worked are based on a sample and are therefore subject to sampling variability. This analysis focuses on differences between estimates that are statistically significant at the 68% confidence level. Payroll employment estimates are based on a census of administrative data and are not subject to sampling variability.
Statistics Canada also produces employment estimates from its Labour Force Survey (LFS). The LFS is a monthly household survey, the main objective of which is to divide the working-age population into three mutually exclusive groups: the employed (including the self-employed), unemployed and not in the labour force. This survey is the official source for the unemployment rate and collects data on the socio-demographic characteristics of all those in the labour market.
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. For more information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
Non-farm payroll employment data are for all hourly and salaried employees, as well as the "other employees" category, which includes piece-rate and commission-only employees.
Average weekly hours data are for hourly and salaried employees only and exclude businesses that could not be classified to a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.
All earnings data include overtime pay and exclude businesses that could not be classified to a NAICS code. Earnings data are based on gross taxable payroll before source deductions. Average weekly earnings are derived by dividing total weekly earnings by the number of employees.
With each release, data for the current reference month are subject to revision. Data have been revised for the previous month. Users are encouraged to request and use the most up-to-date data for each month.
A data table is available from the Browse by key resource module of our website under Summary tables.
Data on payroll employment, earnings and hours for August will be released on October 30.
More information about the concepts and use of the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours is available online in The Guide to the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (Catalogue number72-203-G), from the Browse by key resource module of our website under Publications.
Contact information
For more information, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca).
To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Andrew Fields (613-951-3551; andrew.fields@statcan.gc.ca), Labour Statistics Division.
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