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July 27, 2017EMPLOYMENT, EARNINGS AND HOURS, MAY 2017
Nova Scotians' average weekly earnings (including overtime, seasonally adjusted) decreased $13.93 per week (1.6 per cent) from April 2017 to $848.60 in May 2017. The current level is up 2.2 per cent from its level in May of last year. Canadians' average weekly wages rose 0.2 per cent from April to $972.41 in April 2017, up 2.0 per cent from May of last year.
In general, changes in weekly earnings reflect a number of factors, including wage growth; changes in the composition of employment by industry, occupation and level of job experience; and average hours worked per week.
Across the country, monthly average wages were up for May in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Ontario, and British Columbia, while the other six provinces reported declines.
Through the first five months of 2017, average weekly wages have been growing fastest in the Manitoba (+2.9%), Newfoundland and Labrador (+2.5%), Saskatchewan (+2.3%) and British Columbia (+2.1%). In year to date terms, Nova Scotia's average weekly wages have averaged 0.7 per cent above the levels reported for the same period in 2016. Average weekly wages declined in Alberta compared with the average of the first five months of 2016.
In May 2017, average weekly earnings increased 1.6 per cent (on a month to month basis) in Nova Scotia's goods sectors while service sector average wages decreased 2.3 per cent.
On a year-to-date basis, average weekly earnings are 0.7 per cent higher in the first five months of 2017, with a 2.3 per cent increase in the goods sector and a 0.4 per cent increase in the services-producing sector. Goods earnings showed increases in Construction and Manufacturing and in the services sector, the largest increases were seen in Finance & Insurance and Support Services.
EMPLOYMENT
In May 2017, Nova Scotia had 404,848 payroll employees, a 0.3 per cent increase from April, and a 0.5 per cent increase from levels observed in May of last year. Canada had 16.2 million employees, up 0.1 per cent from April 2017, and 1.6 per cent above levels observed in May 2016.
REFERENCE TABLES - YEAR-TO-DATE AVERAGE
Source: Statistics Canada, Survey of Employment, Payroll, and Hours. CANSIM Table 281-0063, 281-0049
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