Average Canadian Wage Rises To Over $800
The average Canadian weekly earnings of employees stood at $801.24 in October, up 0.2 percent from September. Compared with a year earlier, average weekly earnings were up 3 percent.
Immigration Gives Canadian Population New High
Canada’s population grew by its highest quarterly growth rate for 18 years in the third quarter of 2008. Population growth continued to remain faster in the western part of the country. As of October 1, 2008, Canada’s population was an estimated 33,441,300. Populations rose in every province and territory, except the Northwest Territories.
Ontario Suffers Steep Employment Decline
Ontario suffered a bad month for employment in November with steep declines. Overall, however, the Canadian unemployment rate rose only slightly to 6.3 percent for the month.
Alberta and British Columbia Drag Average House Price Down
The average price of a house sold in August in Canada was $290,347 a drop of almost $14,000 over the last 12 months. Despite house prices rising in most provinces, the declines in expensive British Columbia and Alberta outweighed the gains elsewhere.
Electricians Highest Paid Skilled Trade
More than one million workers in Canada were in skilled trades in 2007, with the vast majority of these workers being tradesmen (97% in 2007). Skilled trades includes occupations such as plumbers, electricians, masons, carpenters, mechanics and crane operators where a license or certificate may be a required for work. Average hourly earnings in 2007 were higher in the skilled trades ($22.36) than in other occupations ($21.02).
Strong Wage Growth in Service Industries
The average Canadian weekly earnings of employees stood at $792.56 in August. Earnings increased the most in the accommodation & food services sector (up by 8.6 percent annually). Health and social assistance, educational services and retail trade earnings all increased annually by over 4 percent.
Record Job Gains For Canada Despite Crisis
The western world may be in the grip of an unprecedented financial crisis but Canada’s employers are hiring more workers than ever before, adding 107,000 new jobs to the country’s economy in one month.
Average House Price $302,298
The average price of a house sold in July in Canada was $302,298, a drop of almost $7,000 over the last 12 months. However, industry insiders are still predicting the average price of a home will rise 5.3 percent in 2008 and a further 4.2 percent next year.
Public Sector Employment Grows Strongly
In the last year, employment in Canada’s public sector has grown by 6.1 percent, compared with 0.5 percent for the private sector. Employment gains over all sectors have averaged 10,000 month this year down from 30,000 a month in 2007.
Average Weekly Wage $791
The average Canadian weekly wage $791.48 in May. Compared with a year earlier, average weekly earnings have grown by 3.1 percent. Alberta and Saskatchewan had the strongest year-over-year earnings growth of the provinces at 6.0 percent and 5.4 percent.