Statistics Canada recently released data on payroll employment for each of the provinces. The seasonally adjusted data was as of April 2023.
This data is different from the labour force data I reported on for April, in that this specifically reports on workers who are on payroll.
In particular, it includes full-time employees, part-time employees, as well as permanent, casual, temporary, and seasonal employees. It also includes working owners, directors, partners, and other officers of incorporated businesses, as well as employees who work at home or on the road but report to the location.
However, what it doesn’t include are owners or partners of unincorporated businesses and professional practices, the self-employed, subcontractors, external consultants, unpaid family workers, persons working outside Canada, and military personnel, as well as employees on unpaid leave, such as those on extended sick leave who are receiving insurance benefits.
I figured I’d take a look to see how the job situation looks in each province for April 2023.
| ON | 6,864,907 |
| QC | 3,993,801 |
| BC | 2,533,750 |
| AB | 2,106,721 |
| MB | 628,785 |
| SK | 505,358 |
| NS | 441,437 |
| NB | 345,812 |
| NL | 216,658 |
| PEI | 75,482 |
Unsurprisingly, Alberta had the fourth largest number of payroll employees in Canada. After all, they do have the fourth largest population in general.
In April 2023, there were 2,106,721 payroll employees working in Alberta. The month before, that number was 2,099,578. That’s a 7,143 increase, the second largest increase in the country.
| Mar 2023 | Apr 2023 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BC | 2,524,871 | 2,533,750 | 8,879 | 0.35% |
| AB | 2,099,578 | 2,106,721 | 7,143 | 0.34% |
| SK | 505,801 | 505,358 | -443 | -0.09% |
| PEI | 76,014 | 75,482 | -532 | -0.70% |
| NS | 445,499 | 441,437 | -4,062 | -0.91% |
| MB | 634,569 | 628,785 | -5,784 | -0.91% |
| NL | 223,332 | 216,658 | -6,674 | -2.99% |
| NB | 353,054 | 345,812 | -7,242 | -2.05% |
| QC | 4,042,868 | 3,993,801 | -49,067 | -1.21% |
| ON | 6,947,171 | 6,864,907 | -82,264 | -1.18% |
Alberta and BC were the only provinces to see an increase in the number of payroll employees between March and April. Ontario, which lost over 82,000 payroll employees, saw the largest decrease.
When we look at the increase as a percentage of the first quarter job numbers, we see that Alberta still had the second largest increase.
Alberta had the third largest increase when we compare to April 2022, a year earlier and just over two years after the province first introduced public health protections related to the pandemic.
| Apr 2022 | Apr 2023 | Change | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ON | 6,755,931 | 6,864,907 | 108,976 | 1.61% |
| BC | 2,460,950 | 2,533,750 | 72,800 | 2.96% |
| AB | 2,036,743 | 2,106,721 | 69,978 | 3.44% |
| QC | 3,951,661 | 3,993,801 | 42,140 | 1.07% |
| SK | 493,035 | 505,358 | 12,323 | 2.50% |
| MB | 621,008 | 628,785 | 7,777 | 1.25% |
| NB | 342,870 | 345,812 | 2,942 | 0.86% |
| NS | 438,513 | 441,437 | 2,924 | 0.67% |
| PEI | 74,686 | 75,482 | 796 | 1.07% |
| NL | 219,687 | 216,658 | -3,029 | -1.38% |
Alberta jumps to first place, however, in terms of percentage change over that year.
Here is what things look like going back to April 2021, two years prior and a little over a year into the pandemic.
| Apr 2021 | Apr 2023 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ON | 6,262,316 | 6,864,907 | 602,591 | 9.62% |
| QC | 3,705,014 | 3,993,801 | 288,787 | 7.79% |
| BC | 2,275,758 | 2,533,750 | 257,992 | 11.34% |
| AB | 1,899,219 | 2,106,721 | 207,502 | 10.93% |
| SK | 472,875 | 505,358 | 32,483 | 6.87% |
| MB | 601,018 | 628,785 | 27,767 | 4.62% |
| NS | 419,227 | 441,437 | 22,210 | 5.30% |
| NB | 331,935 | 345,812 | 13,877 | 4.18% |
| NL | 210,072 | 216,658 | 6,586 | 3.14% |
| PEI | 69,684 | 75,482 | 5,798 | 8.32% |
Alberta had the fourth largest increase in payroll employment. So, second highest when comparing one month, third highest when comparing one year, and fourth highest when comparing two years. Do I sense a theme?
Even so, if we look at the percentage-based increase, Alberta saw the second largest increase.
However, things start to look less rosy the further we go back.
For example, check out what the numbers look like when compared to April 2020, 9 months since the UCP government introduced what they dubbed the “Job Creation Tax Cut” and the month after the government introduced public health protections related to the pandemic.
| Apr 2020 | Apr 2023 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ON | 5,585,371 | 6,864,907 | 1,279,536 | 22.91% |
| QC | 3,111,027 | 3,993,801 | 882,774 | 28.38% |
| BC | 1,964,688 | 2,533,750 | 569,062 | 28.96% |
| AB | 1,701,612 | 2,106,721 | 405,109 | 23.81% |
| SK | 416,970 | 505,358 | 88,388 | 21.20% |
| MB | 543,241 | 628,785 | 85,544 | 15.75% |
| NS | 363,942 | 441,437 | 77,495 | 21.29% |
| NB | 277,836 | 345,812 | 67,976 | 24.47% |
| NL | 180,302 | 216,658 | 36,356 | 20.16% |
| PEI | 59,813 | 75,482 | 15,669 | 26.20% |
Alberta’s growth in payroll employees since April 2020 was the fourth best of all the provinces in Canada, in total numbers. However, that growth was drastically lower than the 3 larger provinces. For example, British Columbia, which was only one spot above Alberta, saw an increase in payroll employment that was more than 40% as large as Alberta’s, despite having a population that is only 14% larger.
On a percentage basis, Alberta actually dropped to fifth place amongst all provinces, coming in at 23.81%.
Ontario saw an increase in nearly 1.3 million payroll employees during the same period. Québec and BC were the only other provinces to pass the 500,000 mark.
Finally, let’s compare this year’s first quarter numbers to April 2019, the month the UCP won their first provincial election.
| Apr 2019 | Apr 2023 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ON | 6,587,346 | 6,864,907 | 277,561 | 4.21% |
| QC | 3,787,558 | 3,993,801 | 206,243 | 5.45% |
| BC | 2,340,743 | 2,533,750 | 193,007 | 8.25% |
| AB | 2,032,528 | 2,106,721 | 74,193 | 3.65% |
| NB | 323,060 | 345,812 | 22,752 | 7.04% |
| SK | 483,123 | 505,358 | 22,235 | 4.60% |
| NS | 422,710 | 441,437 | 18,727 | 4.43% |
| MB | 620,398 | 628,785 | 8,387 | 1.35% |
| PEI | 68,635 | 75,482 | 6,847 | 9.98% |
| NL | 217,772 | 216,658 | -1,114 | -0.51% |
Once again, Alberta saw the fourth largest increase in absolute numbers, but, once again, it trails behind the three other large provinces. Ontario passed the 250,000 mark, Québec broke 200,000, and BC just under 200,000. BC’s increase was 2.6 times larger the increase that Alberta saw, despite having, as I said earlier, only 14% more people living there.
By percentage, Alberta was in second-to-last place, at just 3.65%.
Keep in mind that Alberta’s population increased by 7.3% during the same period—or rather between March 2019 and March 2023—which means the growth in payroll jobs we did see wasn’t even enough to give jobs to the people who were moving to the province, let alone those who were already here and were still unemployed.
PEI saw the largest increase in percentage growth, at 9.98%.
On that note, PEI’s corporate tax rate is 16%. Despite having a corporate income tax rate that is twice as high as Alberta’s, PEI was able to grow their payroll employees by almost 3 times more than Alberta could.
Maybe how low a tax on corporate profits is actually has no bearing on job growth.
Finally, here’s a look at the monthly growth in payroll employees for Alberta since April 2019.
While it might seem impressive on the surface that Alberta saw an increase of 207,502 payroll employees over the last 2 years, it looks like most of that was recovery from the pandemic.
In fact, as I pointed out earlier, over the last 4 years, from just as the pandemic was starting, Alberta saw an increase of just 74,193 payroll employees. That means that of the 207,502 additional payroll employees we’ve seen since April 2021, 133,309 are likely exclusively recovery positions. That works out to about 64.2%.
Not only that, but between April 2019 and February 2020, Alberta had lost 15,234 payroll employees, so we were already on a decline before the pandemic hit.
And it wasn’t even until last April—over 3 years—that we finally passed the number of payroll employees we had in April 2019.
