economy
TURNING THE PAGE ON THE SLOWLY-GROWING WAGE?
What of wages in British Columbia, where the unemployment rate fell by 8% in the past year, to 4.5% in May 2019 (only marginally higher than the all-time low of 4.1% recorded in January 2008), and where employment has risen faster in the past year than in any other province (at 3.6%)? You guessed it: wages have risen, both faster than the previous five-year average rate of increase, and faster than most of the rest of the country. Compared to Canada’s 2.6% increase, median weekly wages in BC rose by 4.0%
in the four quarters leading up to Q2 2019. They have also increased significantly faster than in Ontario (2.8%) and Alberta (0.3%), and compared to BC’s previous five-year average (2.3%). Perhaps some of this is catch-up: at $900, the median weekly wage in BC is still below that of Ontario ($904) and Alberta ($1,038). Should current tight labour market conditions persist, chances are BC will make up more ground in the coming months.
LABOUR MARKET CONDITIONS AND WAGE GROWTH FRUITION
›
4.5%
4.0%
4.0%
3.5%
3.0%
2.9%
3.0%
2.8%
2.7%
2.6%
2.5%
2.3%
2.0%
1.5%
1.0%
0.5%
0.3%
0.0%
CANADA
ONTARIO
ALBERTA
BRITISH COLUMBIA
MED.WEEKLY WAGE FULL TIME
$888
$904
$1,038
$900
Q Q ANNUAL AVERAGE
Q2 2018 - Q2 2019
SOURCE: LABOUR FORCE SURVEY, STATISTICS CANADA
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