B.C. wages rose 2% in February this year compared with February 2012 – more than 50% less than the national average increase of 3.1%, according to Statistics Canada data released this morning.
B.C. ranked second lowest of the provinces in terms of year-over-year non-farm payroll increases in February, with only New Brunswick averaging lower increases at 1.3%.
The province with the highest average pay raise was Alberta at 4.5%, followed by Saskatchewan at 3.8%.
Across Canada, the construction sector enjoyed the highest pay increases at 4.6%, followed by public administration at 4.3%.
The industry that suffered the most was accommodation and food services, which was the only sector identified as seeing a drop in average wages, down 0.4% year over year.
