The number of payroll employees in Alberta fell by 5,400 from August to September, according to Statistics Canada.
But in a report released on Thursday, the federal agency said employment rose by 6,200 positions year over year.
In September, Alberta suffered the biggest monthly decline in average weekly earnings for non-farm payroll employees as wages dropped 1.5 per cent from August to $1,145.30 – still the highest of any province in the country.
On an annual basis, weekly earnings were up by 0.1 per cent.
In Canada, the number of non-farm payroll employees rose by 21,700 positions on a monthly basis.
“The largest month-over-month increases were in administrative and support services, public administration, and transportation and warehousing. At the same time, payroll employment declined the most in retail trade,” said StatsCan.
“Compared with September 2017, the number of payroll employees rose by 301,400 (+1.8 per cent). Employment increased in most sectors, led by health care and social assistance (+56,200 or +2.9 per cent), professional, scientific and technical services (+36,300 or +4.0 per cent) and educational services (+34,100 or +2.6 per cent). In contrast, the largest declines were in retail trade (-8,300 or -0.4 per cent) and information and cultural industries (-6,100 or -1.8 per cent).”
Nationally, the federal agency said average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $1,004.09 in September, off by 0.2 per cent from the previous month. Compared with 12 months earlier, earnings increased 1.8 per cent.
“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. Non-farm payroll employees worked an average of 32.5 hours per week in September, down from 32.8 hours in August and 32.7 hours in September 2017,” said Statistics Canada.
“Compared with September 2017, average weekly earnings increased in five of the 10 largest industrial sectors, led by retail trade. At the same time, earnings decreased in manufacturing, and were little changed in administrative and support services, construction, health care and social assistance, and educational services.”
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
