Weekly paychecks rising in Canada, average worker earned $907

Ottawa - A new report from Statistics Canada suggests that workers are receiving bigger paychecks and at a faster pace. The average weekly paycheck for a salaried worker was $907.19 in August, a 3.6 percent increase from a year ago.

The statistics agency published new data Thursday that shows a small increase in August’s average weekly paychecks for salaried employees. It notes that there were a number of contributing factors, including the rising number of hours worked and higher earnings per hour. In August, the average number of hours worked in a week was 33.1 hours, which was up from 32.9 hours during the same month in 2011. The working hours have remained relatively the same since the middle of July 2011, but lower than the second half of 2010. When it comes to professional sectors, the highest earners were those in professional, scientific and technical services, accommodation and food services and construction. The only sector to decline in weekly earnings was administrative and support services, which fell by 3.2 percent to $724.03. Employees in professional, scientific and technical services saw an increase of 7.4 percent to $1,273.60, workers in accommodation and food services took a pay increase of five percent to $374.51 and construction workers’ earnings jumped 4.4 percent to $1,444.43. Each province in the country grew in weekly earnings. The top three were Newfoundland and Labrador (8.1 percent; $942.31), Saskatchewan (6.1 percent; $938.57) and Prince Edward Island (five percent; $761.13). Ontario and Manitoba were last on the list of weekly earnings with both generating about three percent. “Year-over-year growth in Ontario has been below the national average since October 2010,” Statistics Canada noted in its report. The news comes as Digital Journal reported in August of a study that expected Canadian annual salaries to rise by 2.9 percent in 2013. Employees in the fields of oil and gas, mining and chemicals are expected to see the largest increases.