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April 24, 2025PAYROLL EMPLOYMENT AND AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS, FEBRUARY 2025 Monthly (February 2025 vs January 2025, seasonally adjusted)
Nova Scotia had 460,284 payroll employees in February 2025, down 0.12% (-546) compared to January 2025. Canada had 18.23 million employees, down 0.27% from December 2024. There were declines in eight provinces, led by Prince Edward Island. Québec and Saskatchewan were the only provinces to report monthly growth in payroll employment.
Nova Scotians' average weekly earnings were $1,148.04 in February 2025, a decline of $0.99 (-0.09%) from January 2025.
Nationally, average weekly earnings were $1,298.22, an increase of 0.19% (+$2.49) from average weekly earnings in January. Eight provinces reported declines in average weekly earnings, with the fastest decline in Prince Edward Island. Québec and Ontario reported growth in average weekly earnings compared to January.
Nova Scotia's average weekly earnings in February 2025 were second lowest among provinces, ahead of Prince Edward Island. Alberta reported the highest average weekly earnings.
Nova Scotia's average weekly earnings were highest in finance/insurance, professional/technical services, and company management industries. The lowest average weekly earnings were reported in Nova Scotia's accommodations/food service industries, and retail trade.
(Note: data are not available for Nova Scotia's utilities and mining sectors, and were not available in February 2025 for: forestry/logging, information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation.)
In February 2025, Nova Scotia's average weekly wages were 88.4% of the national average. Nova Scotia average weekly wages were below the comparable national average for every industry except finance/insurance. The smallest gaps were reported among accommodation/food services and health/social assistance. The largest gaps were reported in public administration (82.4% of the national average) and construction (84.4% of the national average).
Year-over-year (February 2025 vs February 2024)
Compared with the same month in 2024, Nova Scotia's payroll employment grew by 1.4% (+6,175) in February 2025. This was faster than the national average gain of 0.7%. All provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador reported growth in payroll employment with the fastest gains in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick.
Among the industries reported on by Statistics Canada, Nova Scotia's largest industries of employment were health care/social assistance (which includes daycares), followed by retail trade and education.
(Note: data are not available for Nova Scotia's utilities and mining sectors, and were not available in February 2025 for: forestry/logging, information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation.)
Personal/repair services had the fastest year-over-year growth in payroll employment in Nova Scotia, followed by construction. Wholesale trade and finance/insurance reported the largest percentage declines in payroll employment.
Average weekly wages grew by 4.8% in Nova Scotia from February 2024 to February 2025. This was slower than the national pace of 5.4%.
Average weekly wages grew by 5.4% across Canada from February 2024 to February 2025. There were gains in each province, with the fastest increase in Ontario. Prince Edward Island and Manitoba reported the slowest gains.
Average weekly wages were up 2.3% in Nova Scotia's goods-producing industries and up 5.3% in Nova Scotia's services-producing industries. All of the reported industries except wholesale trade had year-over-year growth in average weekly wages with the largest increase in finance/insurance.
(Note: data are not available for Nova Scotia's utilities and mining sectors, and were not available in February 2025 for: forestry/logging, information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation. Data were not available for personal/repair services in February 2024.)
Year-to-date (January-February 2025 vs January-February 2024)
In the first two months of 2025, Nova Scotia's payroll employment increased 1.4%. This was faster than the national average of 0.9% as all provinces reported growth. The fastest year-to-date growth was reported in Saskatchewan and the slowest in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Construction, health care/social assistance, personal/repair services and transportation reported the fastest growth in payroll employment in the first two months of 2025 in Nova Scotia. The fastest declines were reported in finance/insurance, accommodation/food services and wholesale trade.
In January-February 2025, average weekly earnings grew 4.9% in Nova Scotia compared to the same period last year. National average weekly earnings grew 5.5% with all provinces reporting growth over this period. Ontario reported the fastest growth while Manitoba reported the slowest.
Nova Scotia's average weekly earnings were highest in finance/insurance, professional/technical services and public administration in the first two months of the year. Average weekly earnings among payroll employees grew the fastest for finance/insurance, followed by education. Retail trade reported lower average weekly earnings, year-to-date.
Nova Scotian average weekly earnings were below the national average for all reported industries in the first two months of 2025. The gap was smallest for accommodation/food services (99.5% of the national average) and health/social assistance (98.1% of the national average). The gap was largest for construction (86.1% of the national average) and public administration (84.9% of the national average).
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0222-01 Employment, average hourly and weekly earnings (including overtime), and average weekly hours for the industrial aggregate excluding unclassified businesses, monthly, seasonally adjusted; Table 14-10-0223-01 Employment and average weekly earnings (including overtime) for all employees by province and territory, monthly, seasonally adjusted
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