economy
WEEKLY WAGES GROWING MEEKLY BC’s recent wage performance has been somewhat uninspiring, but there are signs this could be changing.
There is a degree of ambivalence that the latest wage data elicit—particularly for those interested in how British Columbia has been faring. What is unambiguously positive is that during 2018, full-time median weekly wages in BC rose at almost twice the rate of those Canada-wide, at 1.1% vs 0.6%. However, as of Q1 2019, this merely served to wedge BC’s median weekly wages of $875 right in-between Canada’s $870 and Ontario’s $880—still far off from Alberta’s uncatchable-anytime-soon $1,034.
Of some concern is that BC’s 1.1% increase in median weekly wages in 2018 was slower than both the province’s rate inflation (of more than 3% annually most recently) and its previous 5-year wage increase of 2.0%. Looking ahead, the province’s relatively high cost of living, combined with a historically- tight labour market and a rising job vacancy rate, will likely put some additional upward pressure on wages.
MIDDLING MEDIAN WAGE GROWTH ›
3.5%
3.0%
3.0%
2.5%
2.4%
2.4%
2.0%
2.0%
1.7%
1.5%
1.1%
1.0%
0.9%
0.6%
0.5%
0.0%
CANADA
ONTARIO
ALBERTA
BRITISH COLUMBIA
MED.WEEKLY WAGE FULL TIME
$870
$880
$1034
$875
Q Q ANNUAL AVERAGE
Q Q
SOURCE: LABOUR FORCE SURVEY, STATISTICS CANADA
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