Average weekly earnings in British Columbia grew by 1.3% to $877 in the twelve months leading to June – below the average national growth, according to Statistics Canada data released August 28.
Across the country, wages grew by an average of 2.6% to $919 per week over the same period. This is an increase of 0.2% from the previous month ($917).
The growth nationwide can be attributed to wage increases, changes in composition of employment by industry, occupation and level of experience, and a rise in the average number of hours worked per week, which was 32.9 hours in June.
June wages in B.C. were down 0.5% compared with May ($881), while the national average increased by 0.2%.
Year-over-year growth in wages by province was:
- Saskatchewan (4.2%);
- Alberta (3.9%);
- Quebec (3.4%);
- Nova Scotia (2.7%);
- Newfoundland and Labrador (2.3%);
- Ontario (2.0%);
- British Columbia (1.3%);
- Prince Edward Island (0.9%);
- New Brunswick (0.7%); and
- Manitoba (0.4%).
The study also found that the number of employees in B.C. increased by 1.3% in June 2013 compared with one year prior, with 1.98 million. The number of employed Canadians increased by 0.4% over the same period to 15.34 million.
