Average weekly earnings in Canada finally budged from a plateau at which they seemed to be stuck all winter.
Figures released Thursday by Statistics Canada revealed average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees reached $998.00 in May, up 0.4% from April following five months of virtually no change.
The agency also reported that, in the 12 months to May, earnings increased by 2.9%.
In general, changes in weekly earnings reflect a number of factors, including wage growth; changes in the composition of employment by industry, occupation and level of job experience; and average hours worked per week.
To achieve those slightly higher earnings, non-farm payroll employees averaged 32.8 hours per week in May, little changed from April. Compared with May 2017, average hours worked edged up from 32.7 hours per week.
In the year leading up to May, average weekly earnings improved in eight of the 10 largest industrial sectors. At the same time, there was little change in earnings in both educational services and administrative and support services.
For payroll employees working in retail trade, earnings rose 5.8% to $589.00 per week, the seventh consecutive month of notable year-over-year growth for this sector.
