The latest analysis of payroll earnings from Statistics Canada shows a sizeable gap between income and the cost of living
In an ideal world, wages would always run ahead of the cost of living, but things are far from ideal right now.
Canadians may have received pay rises in the last year as businesses began to emerge from the pandemic crisis, but hot inflation means keeping ahead of rising prices is a pipedream for many.
The latest data from Statistics Canada reveals that average weekly earnings in April 2022 were up 4% from a year earlier, a slight decrease from the annual figure in March.
Month-over-month there was little change at $1,170.
The 4% annual boost is not a real-terms pay increase but simply a closing of the gap between income and the cost of living with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) running at 6.8% during the period to the end of April.
Only Nova Scotia saw average weekly earnings rise by more than the CPI, posting a 7.8% increase to $1,030 while the provincial CPI was 7.1%.
Elsewhere, the cost of living won the battle, with the worst effects seen in PEI and Manitoba:
|
|
Average weekly earnings (%) |
Consumer Price Index (%) |
|
Nova Scotia |
7.8 |
7.1 |
|
New Brunswick |
6.4 |
7.6 |
|
British Columbia |
5.8 |
6.7 |
|
Quebec |
4.8 |
6.8 |
|
Newfoundland and Labrador |
4.3 |
6.6 |
|
Canada |
4.0 |
6.8 |
|
Ontario |
3.4 |
6.9 |
|
Prince Edward Island |
3.3 |
8.9 |
|
Saskatchewan |
3.1 |
5.9 |
|
Alberta |
2.8 |
6.3 |
|
Manitoba |
2.1 |
7.5 |
Data source: Statistics Canada
Who got the largest hikes?
Statistics Canada’s Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours shows that there was a widespread increase in people receiving pay or benefits from their employer in April.
Nationwide there was a 0.7% rise with payroll employment in all provinces at or above the level seen in February 2020. This is the first time since the pandemic started that this has been the case.
There were increases in the number of earners across many sectors, led by accommodation and food services, and construction.
Wages increased the most (on a weekly average basis) for those in retail trade (up 11.7% to $715), professional, scientific and technical services (+9.7% to $1,680), manufacturing (+8.2% to $1,264) and wholesale trade (+7.4% to $1,417).
These sectors accounted for almost one third of all payroll employees and were the only ones to post weekly average increases above the CPI on a year-over-year basis.
With 1 in 3 Canadians reportedly planning to change jobs, they will have plenty of choice.
Job vacancies remain at a record high in many sectors and provinces and across Canada there were more than one million positions available.
