Canadian average earnings outpacing inflation, Statistics Canada reports

FILE: A steel worker welds a new staircase at a construction site in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Average earnings for working Canadians outpaced inflation on a year-over-year basis in April, according to data from Statistics Canada.

April’s earnings sheet, which was released on Thursday morning, reports Canadians earned $1,297 per week on average. That’s a 4.4 per cent increase year-over-year, while inflation increased just 1.7 per cent in the same period.

Average earnings also rose 0.8 per cent compared to the month prior.

Real estate, information, finance see largest gains

Certain Canadian industries have fared better than others in terms of earnings.

Among the sectors that saw the largest proportional gains were information and cultural industries, where average weekly earnings grew just over 10 per cent. Canadians in that sector earned $1,875 per week, on average.

Real estate also got a bump over the last year. Average weekly earnings grew 9.7 per cent for an average of $1,372 per week, or about $120 more than the same time last year.

Who makes the most, and the least?

Employees in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction made $2,492 per week on average – the highest yield of any recorded sector – and saw those earnings rise about five per cent from the year before.

Accommodation and food services saw a similar proportional rise (4.6 per cent) but remained at the bottom among recorded sectors. Employees in that industry made $521.16 per week. Workers in retail trade made $735.52, landing that sector at second from the bottom of the list.     

Job vacancies drop

Year-over-year declines were recorded in health care and social assistance (-23.9 per cent), accommodation and food services (-21.7 per cent), and construction (-13.8 per cent), among other sectors.

Why doesn’t it feel like you’re better off?

The average Canadian may be making more year-over-over and beating out inflation, but one economist explains why it may not feel that way.

“These are the types of calculations that economists do,” said David Macdonald, senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. “We talk about real wages and what you’re gaining against inflation. But folks are upset that prices are going up on things like regular everyday purchases like food. They’re upset that prices for (rent) or the price of purchase for houses has been going up and really hasn’t been coming down all that much.”

Macdonald says wages have been gaining against inflation since 2023, making up some ground after the skyrocketing inflation the two years prior, which has largely been blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Macdonald adds that the positive trajectory has now been interrupted by the instability involving U.S. President Donald Trump and the potential for new tariffs, making the near future very difficult to predict.

“What’s pretty clear in the economic modelling is that no one knows,” Macdonald said. “This is so dependent on a single person and their whims, that whatever Donald Trump tweets today might be different from what he tweets tomorrow. It could be much better, it could also be much worse.”